Sometimes, I wonder if the students doubt my proficiency in English.
But I quickly put that thought out of my mind, remembering my first visit to this elementary school in September 2023. Back then, students learning English far outnumbered native speakers of English. I loved how the kids in the hallway cheered in response to my question: “Kòman nou ye?” — Haitian Creole for “How are you doing?” That day, they identified a Creole speaker in their midst.
The following month, I walked into Promise Prep elementary — now called PLA@48, following a recent merger — in Indianapolis as a Haitian Creole/ESL Interventionist, tasked with supporting the learning journey of the Haitian immigrant students working to improve their English proficiency.
As a native of Haiti who was mostly educated in French, I bring with me my own challenges that come with learning English. To say that my position resonates with my own experience is an understatement. And now, my role has been extended to include family engagement and support services for our Haitian students and their caregivers. They can reach out to me for public transportation passes, for example, or for help with a job application.
Now, as Promise Prep’s reading interventionist, I see myself as serving the community, not just the students or the school. The Haitian parents seem to see me that way, too. As a result, I am sometimes exposed to the realities of their lives, including economic hardship, unstable housing, language barriers, and physical and mental health-related issues following arduous journeys to the U.S. Knowing what they’ve endured has helped me create responsive resources that reflect their experiences, and has led me to seek out professional development opportunities related to trauma-informed care.
I am always looking for ways to connect with our scholars, especially the Haitian ones with whom I have a common background and language.
Because I help manage students’ arrival each day, I am among the first people to greet them and hear about their morning. My ability to foster connections was recognized when, during the 2023-24 school year, I was honored with the Support Staff of the Year award from the school. I received notes of praise and congratulations on a Haitian parents’ WhatsApp group.
I’ve been at the school for almost two years now, and my Haitian students still address me in Haitian Creole, even when I initiate the conversation in English.
When I stopped by a third grade classroom to share an announcement with the teacher, a student welcomed me with a flurry of questions.
“Mr. C., gen gwoup jodi a?” (Mr. C., do we have small-group reading today?)
It’s not possible today. The room is busy with testing.
Oke. Ap gen demen? (OK. What about tomorrow?)
Yes, for sure. We will be reading a story with four paragraphs and extracting the main idea.
- Dakò. Mèsi! (OK. thank you!)
This short conversation is representative of my daily interactions with Haitian students.
One time, I asked a fourth grader why she always addresses me in Creole. She smiled, then responded: “Mwen santi m pi byen epi konekte ak ou.” (I feel more comfortable and connected to you.)
Her response had me reflecting on my own Haitian immigrant journey in the U.S. over the past two years. I relate to this sense of connectedness, which I, too, nurture when I go to family events or am in settings where Haitian Creole is the dominant language. I nurture it when we gather on May 18 for Haitian Flag Day. Or when we meet up over soup joumou (pumpkin soup) to honor our ancestors’ fight for the liberation of the world’s first free Black republic on Jan. 1, 1804.
When I recounted what my student told me to another Haitian Creole interventionist, she described experiencing something similar at school — speaking to kids in English and having them respond in Creole. I realized that it provides students with the opportunity to interact with someone who speaks their mother tongue and to feel connected on a different level.
That’s no small thing, and it fills me with joy.
To provide my students ages 6-12 with additional support outside of the classroom, I founded the Haitian Creole Program in December 2023. More than 200 people have taken Creole classes in person and online, and the program hosted a children’s cultural summer camp in Indianapolis in summer 2024.
This immersion program was a joint activity with Partners in Literacy Haiti to help students of Haitian descent sharpen their Creole language skills and foster their understanding about Haitian culture. Former Deputy Mayor Judith B. Thomas even paid a visit to a Saturday morning class to share insights on the importance of early literacy for child development with our young Creole language learners.
Throughout the entire program, a Caucasian 9-year-old girl was driven 60 miles to participate, aiming to improve her communication with friends from Haiti. If a kid who’s not of Haitian descent can see the Creole language as a way to foster connections, you can imagine the pride I see in the Haitian students when they master their native language.
Websder Corneille is the founder and director of the Haitian Creole Program, an adjunct college lecturer at Indiana University, and a reading interventionist at Promise Prep. He believes language can be a vector to foster greater belonging and understanding.