Wyoming — To make sure her students and their families had enough food and necessities over holiday break, Laura Bierens Bale sent them home with bags full of staples and toiletries.
Many of her 22 Wyoming Junior High School students, English learners who come from several countries and continents, have faced extra challenges in making ends meet lately due to high costs and the recent pause to food benefits, she said.
So, along with her own contributions, Bierens Bale sought donations from the community, including businesses along 28th Street near the junior high. Several stepped up to fill bags with culturally sensitive items families use for cooking and everyday needs.
“It was just my effort to honor each family and to bless them,” she said. “We have an amazing community here at Wyoming, and we have wonderful families. We are working to make it feel like a happy, welcoming place for them.”
Bierens Bale, in her fifth year teaching English learners at Wyoming Junior High, previously worked as a Kent School Services Network coordinator for Bowen Elementary in Kentwood Public Schools, and has taught in West Ottawa Public and Holland Christian Schools.
She has also worked to get winter coats for her students, led a field trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens and hosted a holiday party for them, complete with crafts, gifts and a raffle.
Bierens Bale spoke with SNN about her passion for teaching English learners and making sure her students have what they need to thrive.
Why do you teach? “Because it brings me joy. Because I can. … It’s something I can do successfully. Because I love people — I love their smiles, their voices, their laughter, their stories, their cultures and their languages. I also love speaking foreign languages, and my job allows me the opportunity to use my Spanish — and rarely, a little Arabic — as I serve not only as a teacher but also as a school liaison. I enjoy the routine. Though the pace can be exhausting, I really enjoy the reward of frequent holidays and breaks, and the benefits of the school schedule for family life.”
What is your biggest motivator that keeps you excited about teaching? “The joy. I couldn’t do it if it wasn’t for the joy. Did you know that research proves that your brain doesn’t know the difference between a fake and a real smile in terms of how smiling increases endorphins and improves our mental health? Do you know how often we have to fake it as teachers?
“Some kids are hard. We need to smile more for them. We fake it. And as you fake it, it becomes real. You pretend like you like someone because they need it more than any of the likable kids, and you start to like them. You fake a smile, and you end up smiling for real.”
Why do you teach English learners? What’s the best/most interesting thing about it? “One hundred percent it is the privilege of working with diverse people, diverse languages — including the diversity that is attributed to people who’ve lived outside of the USA. I love it.
“I switched from teaching Spanish five years into my career because I learned foreign languages. (I learned them) because I love foreign people.”
Bierens Bale ran a surfing company in Morocco with her husband for 11 years.
“I’ve been a foreigner,” she said, “so I know that side of the experience as well.”
She said teaching English to students is fun.
“You learn things about English that you’d never have thought about if the English learning kids didn’t come into your life. For example, right now I’m teaching how to pronounce words that end in -ed, the past tense.”
There are three ways to pronounce -ed endings and Bierens Bale said she has learned to teach students why those pronunciations change.
“I love figuring it out and making it easier for kids, helping them to sound more American. My goal is to encourage kids to hang onto their cultures, to embrace the things about American culture that they love, and to sound as American as possible by mastering the language. When someone asks me ‘Are you from Argentina?’ because my Spanish sounded so good to them, it’s like the biggest, best compliment ever. I want my kids to experience that level of success in the community.”
‘They bring rich life experiences and rich value to our school. They know things, and have seen and experienced things that most Americans can’t even imagine.’
— English-language teacher Laura Bierens Bale
What are some of the biggest challenges in your role and how do you strive to meet them? “My role is the most challenging when kids come without a school background — when they lack consistent prior education. This affects what they bring to the table in terms of their starting place, which can be really low. It also affects behaviors, because you know they’ve never had to sit and follow procedures.
“They can lack discipline and self-control, self-regulating (skills). I strive to meet the challenge by building strong connections with kids, convincing them that I’m on their side. I call home to keep parents in the loop. I find time to work individually with kids who are behind with basic skills. But you know, I can’t recreate several years of missed education in a year or two. I have to keep moving forward.
“What I can do is leave a lasting impression with kids that I cared, that I see them, that I made a difference. And I can celebrate progress with them … even if it means getting someone from point A to point B and everyone else is moving from point L to point M, or whatever. Growth is success. When you learn from whatever starting place — if you’re moving forward you are successful. If you don’t keep that perspective, you will lose the joy and encouragement that is really there for you every day as a teacher.”
What’s the most amazing/notable/interesting thing about your students? “They are so new! They are experiencing so many things for the first time. They are open and vulnerable. They bring rich life experiences and rich value to our school. They know things, and have seen and experienced things that most Americans can’t even imagine. They add so much value. It’s amazing to be the one to receive them, afraid, shy, maybe in tears. Maybe lonely. And see how they blossom and grow, and see the joy come — to see that transformation as they start to connect with other students and feel at home at our school. They are part of us. They belong here.”
What would you say to someone considering teaching as a profession? “Teaching is a great career. It is also a calling, and just like the ministry, I don’t think you really should go into teaching unless you really have that inclination, that passion.
“I’d also say that the kid that bugs you the most — that kid — pray for him/her the most. Connect with him/her the most. Smile the most for that kid. That kid needs you. And you need them. Those are the kids that help you grow the most, build character, expand your prayer life.
“Also, if you’re going into teaching you might also want to think about a side gig for supporting your family. The pay hasn’t kept up with the economy and it’s hard to find lucrative work in the summer and holidays when it would be nice to have something on the side to help pay the bills and make ends meet … or to have a little extra income to be able to travel or let your kid join a club sport, or whatever it is for you.”
Read more from Wyoming:
• She decks the freshman hall with all things jolly
• Game on! Junior High students find community in club
