753: What We’ve Got Here is Failure to Communicate
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"Self and high school in Chicago is a school where communication isn't the easiest in normal times. Kids constantly have to pass their phones back and forth with Google Translate so they can understand each other." "Over half the kids are immigrants or refugees. They come from close to 40 different countries. They speak over 35 different languages." "That's Ellie Fishman. A reporter who spent over three years there and wrote a book about the school called "refugee high." She returned there with one of our producers at the beginning of this school year and was there on the second day of school." "Kids are really nervous. They are not native English speakers. They don't know each other yet. So they're sitting among a bunch of strangers at this point. So there's a lot of, you know, anxiety and nerves." "Self and high school is organized to make them feel at home. He's step at the staircase by the main entrance, says "Welcome" in a different language. Private spaces from Muslim students to pray. Shels who will winter coats and backpacks for students who arrive with non-special curriculum and services tailored to them. This year though, was the first time students were back in person since the pandemic, which posed some special challenges. Like for instance, English teacher Amory Handley was going around the room student by student doing one of the most pedestrian beginning of school tasks, filling out the seating chart with the basics. What country are they from? What do they speak besides English?" Abdell. What languages do you speak? Speak Arabic. What languages do you speak, sir? Okay. Now, you heard that student perfectly because our producer was standing right next to him with the microphone just inches from his face. But that long pause, the fact that Ms. Handley asked him the question a second time, that's going to make a lot more sense if I just play you the sound from the microphone that is pinned to Ms. Handley's lapel. This is how she heard that interaction, more or less. Abdell. What languages do you speak? What languages do you speak, sir? Yeah. She didn't hear him at all because she's way up at the front of the room, stuck there typing into a computer, and there's an air purifier they put in for COVID humming towards the back of the room. And there's an air conditioner running that's in the window just to her right. And most important, everybody's in a mask, muffling the students' voices, and making it so she cannot see anybody's mouth move.
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