Three ELL students on track to graduation

By far the biggest problem Lana Andrews, a teacher of English Language Learners, encounters is keeping her students in school.

"I have had many dropouts due to a cultural thing called money," Andrews said.

For some, the allure of earning an income at 16 overrides the long-term benefits of a high school diploma.

But this year, she has three seniors on track for graduation. And all three plan to go to college.

"From coming here not knowing a word of English to going to college -- that is incredible," Andrews said.

Senior Carlos Salas laughs easily now, a demonstration of how far he has come. When he first arrived, his frustration about not understanding the language turned to anger and withdrawal.

Born in Palo Alto, Calif., Salas moved to Mexico at age 2, returning to the United States with his father and brother nearly three years ago. They joined Carlos' aunt in Cape Girardeau.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com Hideaki Tanaka attends an English as a second language class as a senior at Central High School.

"Every time when I hear something I was like 'No speak English. No speak English.' I feel like what am I going to do, what am I going to answer. So I was kind of mad, really mad because I can't understand," Carlos said about his first day.

Each day he would look forward to Andrews' class, a lower-pressure situation. The two would review homework and discuss vocabulary. After about six months, Salas began to feel more confident and started to participate in conversations.

The varsity soccer team's keeper speaks almost fluently now, although writing in English is still difficult. He hopes to improve enough to attend Southeast Missouri State University next year.

"I want to go to SEMO. I'm trying. I need to get good grades, and I have to learn more English and speak almost perfect," he said.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com Liliana Cuahutle, 18, from Mexico is a senior at Central High School who attends the English a second language class. Cuahutle came to the U.S. in seventh grade without knowing any English.

His father, who works at Olive Garden with him, attended college and pushes Carlos in school. "He wants me to graduate and have a good job, you know. He want me to have more opportunity than he had," Carlos said.

Liliana Cuahutle sometimes inserts Spanish into a sentence when talking to classmates at Central High School. The senior calls it "Span-English."

But for the most part, the 18-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, speaks English carefully but quickly -- and with near proficiency.

When Cuahutle was in elementary school, her mother crossed the border and married Cuahutle's stepfather in Texas. Her stepfather, who does not speak Spanish, was later transferred to Cape Girardeau to work at a hospital here.

Cuahutle was 12 when she and her brother joined the couple in Missouri. Her stepfather would point to items and have Cuahutle repeat back in English. "It was kind of really embarrassing," she said.

But the repetition from her stepfather and help she received from Andrews paid off. By eighth grade, she was on the B honor roll. Now she plans on moving to California to go to college and become a nurse practitioner. She is currently enrolled in a health-care class at the Career and Technology Center.

"It was really hard. It is still really hard for me. There's like big words that I don't know ... But I can learn and read more than I used to," she said.

Hideaki Tanaka, from Tokyo, has been in the U.S. for a shorter time than the other two seniors, about a year and a half, but had studied English for three years in Japan. His father works for BioKyowa.

Tanaka is a starter on the varsity baseball team, which helped him meet people and make friends.

He misses the excitement and activity of Tokyo, and plans to return to Japan for college. He hasn't selected a course of study yet.

"I am so proud of the seniors. They have come so far," Andrews said.

-- Lindy Bavolek