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The influx of immigrants is rapidly changing the demographics in Utah schools.
BYU hosted several workshops to show teachers how sports can help them provide diverse students with common ground.
In the Granite School District alone, immigrant and refugee students speak more than 25 different languages. Bridging cultural divides can be a challenge for teachers, but there seems to be one thing that almost every child and adult on the planet can relate to: sports.
Eric Hyer, a BYU professor in political science and international relations, said, "When I told the Chinese I was from Salt Lake City, most every said, ‘Oh, yes. Stockton-Malone.'"
Hyer explained to a group of teachers that during any given NBA game, 300 million Chinese will tune in to watch; a population the size of the entire United States.
Teachers attended the workshop to learn how to incorporate sports into their academic curriculum. "You can get them hooked on sports," Hyer said. "That way, students will say, ‘Oh, I'm interested in sports.' And then you can feed them some history and politics."
Matheson Junior High teacher Tayana Erickson said she was eager to find creative ways to help students with diverse backgrounds come together. She said, "I teach ESL (English as a second language). So a lot of them come from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. We've also had students from Vietnam and African."
Maggie Nassif, with the National Middle East Language Resource Center at BYU, said, "The demographic is changing. The world is changing."
The workshop was just one way BYU worked with the State Board of Education to help schools compete in a globalized 21st century. Nassif said, "I think we are doing a great job in Utah, actually, where we are leading the nation in the number of foreign languages, in the levels of proficiency students are achieving."
Learning foreign languages, studying various cultures and understanding sports are the keys to living in a global society.
In keeping with the sports theme, all participants were given tickets to tonight's Real soccer game at the new stadium.
E-mail: cmadsen@ksl.com.
