[Feature] Challenges and Triumphs in Adapting to the United States

In Washington Heights there is a lot of diversity of cultures. And at CHAH we can learn what the life of some teachers was like when they arrived in the United States.

“Our difficulty in adapting to this country was that my parents and I did not master the language. In addition to feeling very overloaded by all the new cultural shocks,”said Kenia Jeanniton, the school social worker. Ms. Kenia is from the Dominican Republic. She  came to the United States when she was a teenager with her parents, and their economic situation was not very good.

“For me, the adaptation was complicated, since I did not speak English and all the jobs required the language and I arrived here when I was an adult,.” said Denia Damas, a paraprofessional. This can happen a lot when you are new or inexperienced in how to get around in another country that you don’t know.

For things like these we must take into account helping people who emigrate, since many times they need guidance, and that is why CHAH can help many children and teachers in adapting to English and obtaining new opportunities. CHAH helped Ms. Kenia, one could say, because she became one of the founders of a new school, part of a new team, and gained new experiences.

With Ms. Damas, it was a little different, because she worked at another school where they did not value her work financially.One student’s mother told her to go to the district so they could tell her which school she could go to. Eventually she got a job at CHAH, where they valued her work and she is loved by everyone.

Nowadays, there are many people who emigrate who do not know at times what decisions to make. CHAH was one of those institutions that helped these two teachers who today have achieved success. They thank the school for everything it has given them. Both Ms. Kenia and Ms. Damas think that some academic cultures from their countries could be implemented within CHAH, such as improving the relationship between student and teachers so that there is more respect for the student. CHAH could also focus more on how to plan our future in everyday life beyond careers and subjects.

It could be said with all this that there are many emigrants who have many benefits to prosper in the United States or anywhere in the world,  just as Ms. Kenia said, “I would like the Americans to treat us with a little more joy, since we Hispanic Americans are happy and fun.”