Boise school offers English to immigrant parents

When immigrant adults learn English, they are able to help their children in school and also get better jobs, hopefully in the ones they were trained for in their own country. We have too many former doctors and teachers working in housekeeping and landscaping here. - - Donna Poisl

By KATHERINE JONES - The Idaho Statesman

BOISE, Idaho — Nearly 60 immigrant children attend William Howard Taft Elementary School. Among them, they speak 15 languages other than English.

But on Saturdays, the students who come to school are parents like Prudent Nkonogoro, of Burundi, and Hawa Diriye, of Somalia, who face the same challenges to learning English as their children.

"If we can teach (parents) how to read and write English, they can get jobs that are commensurate with their abilities," Principal Susan Williamson said. "Many of them had jobs in their countries, like teachers or engineers. But in our country, because they don't read or write English they're just not (able to use) their abilities."
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