Now you’re speaking my language

The Tigard-Tualatin School District is seeing the advantages of hiring teachers who are bi-lingual and bi-cultural

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Apr 5, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jennifer Clampet / The Times

A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES — Metzger Elementary ELL teacher Lily Watkins calls on her students to actively participate in her Spanish native literacy class.

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Lily Watkins, an ELL teacher at Metzger Elementary School, was trying to help her native literacy students understand the meaning of the word “reutilize.” After a brief explanation, one student shot a hand into the air, Watkins recalled.

As an example, the student said that her father used old shirts to clean the car. But in the sentence conveyed in Spanish, the student simply said her father used “rags” or “trapos” to clean the car.

But Watkins, who grew up in Nicaragua, said she instantly pictured her own father using old shirts to wipe down a family car. Watkins and her student shared the same image even though the student’s phrasing hadn’t been exact.

“I know what these kids are talking about.” Watkins said. “I have that same image in my head, and (because of that) it validates what these kids are saying, and often these kids don’t have validation.”

In a brief presentation given to the Tigard-Tualatin School Board in March, district ELL (English Language Learners) officials noted that one of the most important things in an ELL program is hiring teachers that students can relate to.

“For students to see their role models as coming from where they were is important,” said Johanna Cena, with the district’s ELL department. “(Students) start to see (goals in life) as attainable.”

At Metzger, Watkins teaches in a tiny room. The walls are covered with flash cards displaying Spanish words and phrases, and seven chairs are pushed in around a single table. Watkins admits that she always feels little eyes watching her.

“I must always demonstrate how high they (the students) can go, and they can certainly go higher than a teacher,” Watkins said.

Watkins moved to the United States from Nicaragua when she was 17. Her American father wanted her to get a college education at an American university, but it was the performing arts bug that initially swept Watkins into the American culture.

She moved to New York where she made a living as a Hispanic actress. Years later, Watkins and her husband and newborn daughter moved to Portland.

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