The students at BYU–Hawaii come from 70 countries, giving the campus a unique fusion of culture and language. The English language proves to be a crucial tool as the students communicate with their international classmates, and many international students hone their English skills through immersion and practice. This also means that the children of married international students are growing up in multilingual families. A new program, staffed by current students, is now giving these children enhanced opportunities to learn English while their parents attend the university.
Destiny Fisihetau, a TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) major from California, teaches four- to five-year-old children from multilingual families basic English skills as part of a recently established internship for the English Language Teaching and Learning department. The class was originally developed as a service for children of international students, using only volunteers as teachers. Now, as an internship, teachers are trained and dedicated to the class, enhancing its effectiveness. Fisihetau, along with Belle Rongthong, a TESOL major from Thailand, and other BYU–Hawaii student volunteers teach the class three times a week on campus.
The class has children from the countries of Mongolia, the Philippines, Tonga, Kiribati, and more. Though they hear their native languages at home, they live around and play with other children from all around the world, and they use English to communicate with each other. “These children become so fluent in English because they absorb what their friends are saying on the playground,” says Fisihetau. “Most of them become very proficient in speaking, and our English class helps them enhance their skills in reading and writing.”
The class has three main goals: students learn to count in English, recite the ABCs, and write their names. The children have many activities that help them accomplish these goals, including making crafts, singing songs, and listening to story time. The children also participate in a show-and-tell activity in which the students are responsible for bringing an item that correlates with the “letter of the day” to class and talking about it to their friends.
The BYU–Hawaii TESOL majors who often volunteer to help with this children’s class are implementing the skills learned in their own courses. For example, one TESOL course focuses on teaching English to young learners, so this children’s class helps BYU–Hawaii students practice their lessons on their real target audience. “ESL (English as a Second Language) and TESOL are being implemented in schools at a younger age,” says Fisihetau. “One third of the graduates in our field usually get involved working with younger children, so teaching this class is great practice.” The experience also goes beyond their major, as it teaches the TESOL students how to teach to individuals. “This experience is also very practical because it helps us understand how to teach to the student customer, meeting their needs,” says Fisihetau. “Four-year-old students are very forgiving and innocent, but if I don’t teach how they need to be taught, then they don’t pay attention or behave. I can immediately tell when I need to change the way I’m teaching.”
The benefits of working with children are of course more than just educational. “They make me feel like a million bucks,” says Fisihetau. “It is so refreshing to be with them and feel like a kid again.”
