In a rural town of fewer than 3,000, the mix of cultures in the Green Forest School District is certainly unusual. In addition to Spanish, Green Forest Schools reported Burmese, Chuukese/Trukic, Marshallese, Tagalog, Pohnpeian, and Karen. Behind Spanish, Karen (pronounced car-EN) is the largest language group, and the district has its own interpreter for the Burmese population of parents. In the entire state, only one school in Little Rock has a higher student percentage of home-of-origin language speakers.
Multiple diasporas of people groups have been created by conflict, persecution, political violence, economic crises and/or natural disasters in their home countries. According to the United Nations, the number of international migrants increased from 75 million in 1960 to 304 million in mid-2024. Different dialects and languages come and go as families move into or out of a district, and public schools need to accommodate those who speak them.
Those comparatively few groups that arrive in our area most often come based on word-of-mouth reports from family or friends who have found a welcome here.
Green Forest District School Supt. David Gilmore characterizes the schools as being a model of how different cultures can work together despite innate differences and language barriers.
“I absolutely love how well our students get along and work together daily,” Gilmore said. “We have specialized staff including interpreters, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teachers and paraprofessionals, and an ESOL coordinator to help make sure our students and families get all the aid they need to be successful in our district.
“At the beginning of this school year we focused on professional development that provided strategies for all teachers to help English language learners. Despite the language barriers our students are showing huge gains with their required standards.”
This year, Green Forest Middle School ELD (English Language Development) teacher, Emily Bolton, has students from 14 countries in her classes, including eight Latin American nations plus Burma, Thailand, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and the Philippines.
As it happens, Bolton, who taught an English as Second Language class for adults at Northark last year, got a surprise when she transitioned to the Middle School classroom. “I discovered some of my students were children whose parents I had taught earlier at Northark,” Emily said. “How often does that happen in a teaching career!?”
ESOL Coordinator, Glenda Ayers, is justly proud of the schools’ measures to accommodate the growing numbers of English learners. “Last year, we were second only to Exalt Academy in Little Rock for the percentage of ELs (English Learners) in our student population. Larger districts have more foreign languages represented in their districts, but we have the second highest percentage of ELs” [in proportion to size of student body] in the state.”
Green Forest Police Chief John Bailey, who served on the school board for 15 years, also relies on help from the school as well as an interpreter from the Green Forest Tyson plant when needed.
“As we’ve seen these people move in, it was my goal to hire officers from their cultures. After 27 years, I learned that early on. I have a Spanish speaking officer, and I’m looking for someone who can speak Karen and who is or can become qualified to be a police officer.” Bailey said. “Unfortunately, law enforcement around the world tends to be corrupt and some people are mistrustful, especially if they don’t understand what police are asking them or wanting them to do.
“We’re trying to meet the needs of these people,” Bailey added, “and having a Karen-speaking officer would be a huge help. I’m very well aware that language can be a problem in school,” he added, “but kids are remarkable, and we need people who will see both sides.”
In Arkansas, home language information is gathered from a state-required Home Language Usage Survey which every student must complete upon enrollment.
ESOL Coordinator Ayers explained, “The goal of the survey is to determine which languages were present when the child was in the early stages of language development and also lets us know which language the parent prefers when speaking with staff members or receiving written communication from the school. We have a few homes in which three or more languages are spoken, so in those cases, English is the third or fourth language being learned.”
Because their input and support are important for student success, parents must have a clear understanding of communications from the school. Hence, all ESL-required written letters to parents are translated and provided by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education in the top 11 languages in Arkansas: English, Arabic, Chinese, Hmong, Karen, Laotian, Marshallese, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, and Vietnamese.
“We also have two interpreters-translators on staff to help with in-person communication; and they can translate documents into Spanish and Karen as needed,” Ayers said. “Green Forest is truly a microcosm of the world. Making friends and fitting in are important to all students. Rather than focus on their differences, students find that they have more in common than they might initially think. When they get involved in sports, band, or cheerleading, for example, the barriers and differences in language and culture melt away and life-long friendships are made.
“The same is true for our students in Connect 4, a program linking Berryville, Eureka Springs and Green Forest with local industry, and those who attend NAC. Being part of a group is paramount to success.”
As for leaping the language hurdle, Ayers said the challenges for some students to be able to access core content are being met by special programs. “Teachers provide individual support and accommodations as determined by grade-level Language Proficiency Assessment Committees. For students who are Limited English Proficient, we provide daily English Language Development service. During ELD time, LEPs are grouped by proficiency level and receive instruction focused on language acquisition.
“It can take English learners in grades K-2 up to six years to become proficient in English; in grades 3-5 up to seven years; in grades 6-12 up to eight years,” Ayers explained.
“In August 2022 we started a Newcomer Program for high school students new to U.S. schools, behind on credits for graduation, and at high-risk of dropping out of school. During that period, we saw a reduction in the drop-out rate and an increase in the graduation rate for those students.”
Gilmore said the Green Forest School District was above state averages for student growth across most grade levels in the district. “This is attributed to a group of teachers and students who put in the hard work each day. For the past few years, we have had cultural event nights on campus to learn about the cultures that make up our district. I attended this last year and learned a tremendous amount about our different cultures,” Gilmore said.
Many staff members are former alumni who choose to come back to work at Green Forest, and, according to Ayers, a growing number of them are former English Learners. Feedback from one of them, now an ESL teacher, notes, “I believe that having a good working relationship with the teachers makes all the difference. It is a collaboration and friendly partnership with the teachers that made our scores so high last year. It’s not one of us. It is all of us working hard every day.”