By Patricia Balcom
Since it first opened in 1922, York Street Public School has been a welcoming place for immigrants. Liz Mackenzie, who attended York Street School in the 1950s, recalled that many fellow students had come from camps for displaced persons in Europe. These students were confronted with total submersion in English, with no access to modern ESL classes. The services available to immigrant students have improved considerably over the years since the school opened, helping it to remain a haven for newcomers.
Mary Buceta, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at York Street School, is an immigrant herself. She came to Canada as a three-year-old, in the 1960s. She failed Grade 3 because there was no ESL program at her school. She was “just thrown in”; there were no specialists to help her, and her parents spoke no English. “I didn`t have a good time. So I understand these kids.”
I met with Ms. Buceta in her second-floor classroom at York Street School, a long narrow room with two round tables, one with a game of Scrabble on it. There are posters on the wall, and the low bookshelves are crammed with books and games.
“I`ve seen a lot of waves of people”
Ms. Buceta told me that at the moment her students’ countries of origin include Syria, Russia, Kazakhstan and Albania. Not all are immigrants; children from the various embassies in Lowertown also attend, including Romania and Vietnam. Roughly half of the students at the school are new Canadians. Because she has been teaching at York Street for close to 25 years, she has “seen a lot of waves of people” coming and going. Currently none of her students have had no schooling before arriving in Canada, although in the past there have been “people … that were in refugee camps and had limited schooling. I`ve had them but that`s been a while.” Similarly, she has two students this year with “zero English”; most have a very basic knowledge, expressions like “Hello” and “How are you?”.
The ESL program “depends on the needs of the students.”
Because it is a continuous-intake program, the students vary. “Sometimes there may be a group of students who don`t have enough English to follow what is going on in the regular classes so are “withdrawn” to spend time with Ms. Buceta. She explained that as their English improves they spend all of their time in their classroom, where their program is modified “so that they can follow the regular mainstream programme.” Ms. Buceta can see up to 15 or 16 students in a day, all at different levels.
“If … any parents want to speak to the teachers we can use him as an interpreter”
Ms. Buceta then described the role of the multicultural liaison officer (MLO). The officer at York Street School is Somali, and when needed he can interpret for students and parents who speak Arabic and Somali. There are also MLOs at other schools who can be called upon if she needs somebody who speaks another language, such as Russian or Vietnamese.
“It`s an upward battle for some of them but they really try.”
To answer the question of how long it takes children to integrate academically, Ms. Buceta explained that Jim Cummings [Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at OISE, University of Toronto] maintains that for an immigrant child it takes 5 – 7 years to get to the academic level of the child born in Canada. She noted that they pick up interpersonal skills very quickly, but that there are gaps in their academic vocabulary and skills.
“They come from a different perspective.”
In response to the question “In what ways are your students beneficial to the other students and to the school” Ms. Buceta responded that “the first thing they start doing is teaching each other words of their own language.” She added that: “They bring different ideas. … When they`re in the [regular] classroom they have another way of thinking so they can bring another perspective into the class.” She added that there are sometimes multicultural dinners at the school, where the families bring different foods.
The children teach each other words in their own language, and support each other. “My little group now, they all like soccer … and when a new person comes they`re very welcoming. Soccer’s international.”
As York Street School approaches its 100th anniversary (which will be in 2022) its walls will continue to tell stories of the many waves of immigrants it has welcomed.
With notes from Miller Chenier, N. (2013). York Street Public School celebrates 90 years in Lowertown. The Lowertown Echo, 3.3, p. 3.