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Newcomer Program helps ease transition
Published 2/27/2010 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Gilberto Heredia and Randy Luna, both 17, stepped onto a City Link bus for the first time on Friday morning.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Sisi Lia, center, places her coin in the slot as City Link bus driver Les Nichols, right, looks on Friday as Lia and other students in Sylvia Orosco's class at the New Outlook Academy and Newcomer Center take a field trip. The group traveled on the bus from Dillions West to Golden Corral Restaurant for lunch, then back. The trip gave students a chance to learn how to board the bus and dine at a buffet-style restaurant.
The two students greeted the bus driver, gave him the appropriate change for the fare, then boarded the bus in front of the west Dillons store.
Knowing how to use public transportation opens up the possibility of exploring the rest of Garden City, their teacher, Sylvia Orosco, said.
On Friday, 11 students who are new to the country participated in a field trip where they rode the City Link bus to Golden Corral, where they ate lunch.
The USD 457 Newcomer Program this semester serves 11 students from several different countries, including Vietnam, Mexico, Thailand, Burma and El Salvador.
"It's a life skill. They have never known transportation in Garden City," said Orosco, the Newcomer Center instructor.
The program's goal is to teach students that arrive from other countries basic life and academic skills before the students transition to their first American school.
Many of the students on the field trip had never heard of a buffet or visited one, Orosco said. She explained to the students before the field trip to try little portions of several foods.
"This is overwhelming for these immigrants," Orosco said. "They're completely shocked at all of this."
The Newcomer Center has been in place for several years, but Orosco said Friday was the first time students in the program traveled to a field trip destination on a City Link bus.
She said she wanted to get the students familiar with public transportation because many of their parents or guardians do not have driver's licenses.
And once students feel comfortable riding on City Link buses, they can teach their parents and family how to use the buses, Orosco said.
Luna, from Mexico, said he's been in Garden City for six months. Heredia was born in California and lived in Mexico before coming to Garden City to stay with his uncle.
Both students said they liked the bus and wanted to learn more information about Garden City.
Orosco, who speaks English and Spanish, has a Vietnamese paraprofessional and also uses a translator for the Burmese students.
Languages the students at the center speak this semester include Vietnamese, Spanish, Chin, Burmese and Thai.
The students spoke English on the field trip, and told waitresses and waiters what kind of drink they wanted and asked where the bathrooms in the restaurant were located.
"It's rewarding to see them speak English," Orosco said.
Middle school students spend nine weeks at the Newcomer Center, and high school students spend one semester with Orosco before transitioning to a new school. She said many immigrant students come to the school district knowing very little English and some, especially from Burma, come to Garden City knowing no math at all.
And once their time at the Newcomer Center ends, the students receive tours of their new middle or high school, then transition into regular classes.
Orosco said she planned to continue the field trips with future classes at the Newcomer Center.
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