On any given school day, Songbo Zhou can be found explaining a math problem to his classmate. Math has been his strongest subject since he arrived at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Flushing, Queens last year. After all, numbers are the same in every language.
When he started 7th grade Songbo knew not a word of English. He moved to the U.S. with his family from mainland China in search of greater academic opportunities, and since the move he’s found them.
“I think my school is good,” he tells Currents News. “It has good study, and I have a good friend, and they have good lunch. So I like it.”
St. Michael’s Mandarin and English dual language program allows Chinese students to thrive. The school’s principal, Philip Heide says the academy employs coaches that develop inclusive strategies to bridge the language gap for everyone.
“After you repeatedly utilize the same strategies over and over again, it clicks,” he explains. “And then when it does click, the sky’s the limit.”
Today Songbo is nearly fluent. “Night and day” is how teacher Patricia Marsala. describes the progress. She tells Currents News that she’s never seen anything like it in her decades-long career.
“He studies hard, works hard, does all the homework, does all the assignments,” she explains. “He is a complete delight.”
Though Songbo gives a lot of credit to his teachers – he says it’s his friends who have kept him afloat in class.
“I can’t understand what’s happening and I have some questions and they say, ‘Okay no problem, let me tell you what’s happening,’” he says. “So they help me speak English.”
Faculty at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy say Songbo’s success is a testament to not only his hard work, but the power of Catholic education
It’s where “they feel supported, where they feel challenged in a healthy way,” says Heide.
“This is the kind of family we are here. I am so proud of us all,” adds Marsala.
And that type of feeling is something that needs no translation.