NYC Schools Tackle Language Barrier

Newsday has this report on education:

High school student Emily Cuellar has an easy way to sugarcoat things if her grades slip or her teacher sends a note home complaining about her behavior in class.

She speaks fluent English. Her parents, born in Colombia and Ecuador, do not, and have depended on their daughter, now 16, to translate for them since she was a little girl.


"I totally took advantage of my mom," Cuellar said. If there was anything less than flattering, "I'd just leave it out."

Her experience is a common one in immigrant-rich New York, where about 43 percent of public school students speak a language other than English at home.