Natives, newcomers at table again

The immigrant families attending an international Thanksgiving potluck last week had only the fuzziest ideas about the November holiday.

Many knew it involved a large bird, but few knew it had originated in the struggle of early Americans to survive in their chosen land or that those newcomers sat down with native people in the country's first and most famous multicultural feast.

"I thought, 'It was winter, it was cold, food was hard to find, and then this man finds a big turkey, and so they celebrate,' " said Wing Mak, a Lynnwood carpenter who moved to the U.S. from Hong Kong three years ago with his wife, Yuk, and son, Henry, now a fourth-grader at Lynndale Elementary School in Lynnwood.

The Maks were among about 80 immigrants and their children who joined Edmonds School District teachers, students and administrators for a district-sponsored holiday celebration last week at Mountlake Terrace High School.

The mysteries of Thanksgiving were explained in an evening class this month that featured a children's book and a showing of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."

The classes are being offered for the first time this fall to parents of children in the district's English Language Learners (ELL) program. About 60 adults regularly attend the free evening classes designed to teach conversational English and introduce the immigrants to community resources and American culture.

"The more parents get involved in school, the more students succeed. We need them as partners in their kids' education," said Betsy Zeifman, an ELL teacher at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Zeifman and Priscilla Krueger, a Lynnwood High School ELL teacher, launched the adult ELL classes in September with a $5,000 grant from the Edmonds Public Education Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports district schools.

District leaders said the classes are an attempt to overcome some of the language and cultural barriers that keep immigrant parents from participating in their children's schools.

"Just getting them involved in school and comfortable there is huge," said Edmonds School Board member Gary Noble, who attended last week's potluck with his wife, Kay, another district ELL teacher.

As in any good Thanksgiving celebration, the tables in the Mountlake Terrace High School cafeteria were laden with food. The immigrant families brought dishes from their own countries — tamales, noodles and spring rolls, among the more familiar.

A local Costco Wholesale store provided 10 turkeys, 12 pumpkin pies, dozens of rolls and all the utensils. Culinary-arts students at Mountlake Terrace prepared the turkeys, stuffing and gravy.

The school's hip-hop team, which this year features five new ELL students from Russia, Honduras, China and El Salvador, performed handsprings, spins and back flips to the very American thump of rap music.

Ta Ming Wang, a Mountlake Terrace senior and a leader of the hip-hop team, thanked the guests and said one of the reasons he liked the hip-hop team was its diversity.

"We all come together in unity," he said. "It's pretty special."

Three generations of the Gonzales family loaded their plates with turkey and tamales. Maria Gonzales, who is taking the evening classes, said that in addition to learning English, she has met other Spanish-speaking immigrants with children in school.

Speaking through her daughter-in-law, Deborah Folino, a Meadowdale High School graduate, Gonzales said, "I've made a lot of friends."

At another table, Nga Nguyen, who came to Lynnwood from Vietnam about 15 years ago, said she had served many Thanksgiving meals as a cook at a retirement home. But until she took the adult ELL class this fall, she hadn't heard the story of the first Thanksgiving.

"The pilgrims," she said, repeating the new word, "I didn't know about before."

Nguyen's daughter, Quynh Phan, was 18 months old when she came to the U.S. Now, the girl is a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School. Her son, Chris, was born in the U.S. and is a student at Brier Terrace Middle School.

Nguyen pronounced her turkey dry but was told by someone that that is also traditional.

About 25 years ago, when the first wave of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees came to the Edmonds area, there were few social services or support programs, and only two local schools had ELL programs, recalled Barbara Vadset, who has taught ELL in the district since 1980.

Now there are ELL programs in almost every school, with a dozen teachers at the district's middle and high schools, and about 60 language assistants for about 1,600 students.

Gesturing to the crowded cafeteria and the many immigrant families, she said, "Now, you've got the whole world here."

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com