Libraries, schools helping ease transition to American life

With an increase in the Hispanic population, local public agencies like libraries and school systems are stepping up efforts to make the transition into the American culture seamless.

Libraries and school systems are the places people go to be educated, Helen Brunet, director of the South Lafourche Public Library, said. She said there are few places Hispanic people can go to learn how to communicate in English.

“We are not here to make them conform totally to English,” she said, “but in order for them to communicate here in America, they need to learn a little English.”

School-aged children are immediately enrolled into school. Each public school system has an English as a Second Language (ESL) program where instructors visit each school site to help the Hispanic students, or any other foreign student, with one-on-one instruction to better understand the English language.

“Spanish-speaking children tend to do well in school and quickly learn to speak fluent English,” Brunet said. “But the language barrier has always seemed to be the biggest challenge for Hispanic adults.”

Evelyn Duet, an instructor at the Bayou Cane Adult Education Center, agrees that adults have a much harder time adapting to the new language. She thinks that this may simply be because they are unfamiliar with the services available for immigrants.

Bayou Cane offers morning ESL courses for adults on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 to 11 a.m. Norma Donaldson is the instructor for those classes. Duet teaches the night classes on Monday and Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Duet said the center also coordinates outside activities for the students to help them learn first-hand how to communicate in English by interacting with locals at businesses and restaurants.

Libraries across the Tri-parishes are helping to alleviate some of the challenges Hispanics face by integrating Spanish-oriented activities into many of their programs.

In Lafourche Parish the influx of Hispanics has been in the southern part of the parish. Brunet said she has been ordering Spanish and bilingual materials including books, DVDs and music CDs for the adults, teens and children.

Branch assistant Maria Mendieta, a new hire at the library, speaks Spanish. She is helping to design the programs that specifically are targeted toward the Hispanic community.

Brunet said Mendieta does bi-monthly visits to Even Start, a government program that offers support to local family literacy projects to integrate early childhood education and adult literacy programs for English language learners.

Mendieta has already started a bilingual story time for preschoolers. The library received a bilingual version of the AWE Early Learning Station. The computer system has more than two-dozen education programs for toddlers to second graders.

She said the workstations allow kids to learn, read and play educational games in either English or Spanish.

Mendieta’s next task is to visit area schools to coordinate activities with the ESL programs.

“With school-aged children learning English so quickly, they run the risk of losing their native culture,” Mendieta said. “But South Lafourche has tailored some programs that will help preserve their Spanish heritage while they learn English.”

South Lafourche also offers Spanish databases that are available through the library’s Web site, www.lafourche.org, which is free to all Lafourche Parish library cardholders.

The online books include the World Book Online Encyclopedia, EBSCO and many others, Brunet said.

Many of the library’s brochures and pamphlets have also been translated into Spanish.

Some of those same services are offered at the Terrebonne Parish Public Library System, said Director Mary Cosper LeBoeuf.

In Terrebonne, the increase in the Hispanic population is in East Houma. LeBoeuf said to help aid them with library services, the East Houma Public Library has increased its Hispanic magazines and books collection and has also implemented some new Internet databases.

East Houma Branch Manager Rhonda Madison said the library holds an introduction to Spanish and English class every first and fourth Saturday of the month to help Spanish-speaking residents learn English and vice versa.

“The class is for anyone wanting to learn Spanish,” she said. “Or any Hispanic person wanting to improve on their English skills. The class is very good because most of the time they help each other with both languages.”

East Houma also hosts a Hispanic film night every third Wednesday of every month.

Though the area has seen an increase in the Hispanic community, many of them are not taking advantage of the services that are offered to help them transition from Spanish to English.

LeBoeuf believes that the lack of participation in the community programs is based on trust. Brunet said there is a misconception among the Hispanic community that the library is not for them.

“They don’t understand that places like the library offer free services to them to help with their communication skills, reading and writing of the English language,” she said.

The East Houma library has formed a partnership with a local Latino grocery store.

The storeowner has agreed to place posters that have been translated into Spanish in the store to let patrons know about the library programs.

“This has worked well for us,” LeBoeuf said. “But we could have more participation from the Hispanic community.”

“Our job is to get the message out that we are a welcoming place that is inclusive to all citizens,” Brunet added. “There is no restriction or reason not to get a library card and utilize all the services the library systems have to offer.”

Norma Donaldson, an instructor at the Bayou Cane Adult Education Center in Houma, leads adult students in an English class. The education center, along with public schools, report seeing an increased demand for English as a Second Language courses across the Tri-parish area. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER