topics list. a discussion now with author brooke hauser at miami book fair international. she talked with us about her book and took viewer questions. this is about half an hour. >> host: and now joining us here in miami on our outdoor set is the author, brooke hauser. brooke hauser, what is the international high school? >> guest: the international high school at prospect heights is a high school in brooklyn that, um, teaches english to new immigrants and refugees from around the world. so at this particular school kids come from more than 45 different countries, and they speak more than 28 different languages. it's basically, like, the world under one roof. >> host: how did you find this story about the new kids? because this is a narrative. >> guest: yes. well, i had a friend who was working at the international rescue committee which resettles refugees from other countries, and i was looking for a

volunteer opportunity because in addition to my more investigative journalism, i do a lot of celebrity profiles; beyonce, mariah carey, you know? and i wanted to do something really different. and i thought i'd volunteer my time. i heard about a program where you could work with rescued youth at one of these international high schools. the more i learned about the school, the more i decided, you know, this is something i really want to write about these kids, not just volunteer. so i found a high school that was in my neighborhood in prospect heights and, you know, went over there and spent some time. >> host: and when did you get the idea to by their story? >> guest: well, it started with an article i wrote for "the new york times" called "the stage thing called prom." and i wrote about the kids putting on their first-ever prom. they're brand new to the country, they had no idea what prom was, and, you know, that made the planning of it very difficult. and they, basically, studied for prom the way you or i might have studied for a chemistry exam. they would watch a movie like

"mean girls "and say, okay, i get it, you know, this is how you do prom. and i followed them for the few months that they were organizing it. and in the end, it was unlike any prom i'd been to and heard of, and the most popular girl was a nomadic yak herder from tibet. these kids were so charming, i fell in love with them. and i knew i'd only just scratched the surface and that it would make a great book to go back to the high school. >> host: brooke hauser, were they trying to be americans through the prom? >> guest: some were and some weren't. when you have kids coming from more than 45 different countries, you get a whole range of, you know, what it means to be american, what it means to assimilate and if people even want to assimilate. some of the students, you know, immediately started changing their dress and would wear, you know, designer jeans and converse sneakers. other kids, you know, from bangladesh, say, would continue to wear their head scarves and

their form of dress that some of the girls wore. so it really depended on the culture, how much they wanted to adjust. >> host: what was the kids' reaction to your following them around and writing their stories? >> guest: most of the kids were very open. um, you know, i found the five kids who i followed by asking their teachers when you go home at night, who are the students that you can't stop thinking about? and i found all sorts of different kids that way, but for one teacher that was a chinese girl who was supposed to come live with her father after seven years of not seeing him. when he got to new york, she found that he was remarried and had two little boys with his new wife, and the stepmother kicked her out of the apartment, would not let her live with them. so when i met this girl, she was living on her own in knight, basically. >> host: and what was her name? >> guest: her name is jessica. >> host: right. >> guest: you know, it really ranged, the kinds of students

who i found. but, um, that was how, that was how i found a couple of the students. and i also found them by reading their college essays. >> host: 202 is the area code if you would like to talk with author brooke hauser about the students that she followed in new york city, the international high school students. 624-1111 if you live in the east or central time zones, and pacific time zones you can also send a tweet. twitter.com/booktv. brooke hauser, which language -- was english used as the teaching language in this school? >> guest: yes. the goal is for the students to learn english. but the executive director of the international network for public schools which oversees many of these high schools in new york and a couple in california, she likes to say that learning english is kind of like riding a bicycle. you don't learn to ride a bicycle by watching someone else ride it, you learn by getting on. so these students are thrown

into learning english. they're brand new to the country, you know, they're put into classes where the lessons are being taught in english, but they have training wheels, and those training wheels are their native languages. so students work in groups. there might be be a kid from senegal in the same group as a kid from haiti. perhaps they share a common language of french because creole has its roots in french and, you know, the students are able to tutor and help each other so that the ones who are more proficient in english are able to coach the ones who need the help. so, yes, they're learning english all of a sudden, all at once, but they have these different support structures in place to make sure they don't fail at it. >> host: were there any concerns, did you have any concerns seeing these kids, weren't they kind of isolated from the larger american kid population? >> guest: definitely isolated in the school in that there were no american students at this school. to be eligible to get into the high school, you have to have lived in the united states for fewer than four years, you have to be from another country, and

you have to have failed an english-language assessment exam in order to get in. so, um, you know, people have different opinions about whether this model works. i felt it was very successful, and, you know, as different and diverse as the students were, they were all in the same boat in that they were all brand new to the country. and that ruled out a lot of teasing and taunting that comes along with being brand new to a place, especially as a teenager. if you have a different accent or a different way of dressing, you know? >> host: what were their parents' reactions to their writing their stories? >> guest: um, the parents, you know, you'd ask me about the students and how they felt, and i basically really -- i found the students by asking their teachers that question, but then i narrowed it down by looking for kids who really wanted to talk to me. it wasn't enough that i found their stories interesting. i wanted them to find my project interesting, to know that they

would be with me for the long haul. and so the students who came to me and who were interested in this sharing their stories were pretty much as committed to the book and telling their story as i was. and for the most part, so were their parents, if they came here with parents. one thing that really surprised me was how many students had made the journey to the united states alone. and even one boy who i write about in the book from sere yea raleigh krone, when i met him, he was basically on his own and had been since the anal of 1 or 15 -- age of 14 or 15. so the parents weren't always in the picture. but he did later have a legal guardian -- >> host: was that mohamed? >> guest: yes, it is, yeah. so, you know, all of the kids i had them sign release forms or their parents or legal guardians. someone was, you know, protecting them, and so was i. it was very important to me that -- >> host: how did mohamed get into the country?

>> guest: how did he get into the country? um, he came here with a church group and, um, you know, the understanding was that he was supposed to live in connecticut for a certain amount of weeks, and, um, he did. and he adjusted well, and, um, you know, i don't want to give away his whole story -- >> host: sure. >> guest: basically, he had come from one of the poorest places in the entire world, she yea raleigh krone -- sierra leone. he grew up with no running water or electricity. one of more than 20 children, his father had had a few wives. and when he came to connecticut, i think he really felt that he, you know, he was happy there for a while. like i say, you know, his story takes some twists and turns, but he never did go back to sierra leone. when i met him, he was living in new york city working for some african --

[inaudible] which was not his choice exactly. so he had a very twisted, complicated journey here and, um, since, you know, he has attended the school, he's really succeeded, excelled, and he's now on a four-year scholarship. one of the hardest working kids i've met. >> host: do most of the kids stay in the u.s. afterwards? are most here legally? >> guest: most are here legally, yes. most of the kids are here as, you know, legal immigrants or refugees. that said, 15% of the senior class the year i was there was undocumented. and, um, in this country we had a 1982 supreme court case which ruled that students, regardless of their legal status, have the right to go to public school and get a free public education. so it's scary to see that challenged now, and i think that whatever your feelings about

undocumented immigrants in this country, it's hard to argue with, um, you know, the advantage of educating all children. because a lot of the kids, um, are going to stay anyway, so the question is do you want them to be contributing, valuable member of society or not? and if you do, education is very important. >> host: the new kids is the book, big dreams and drive journeys at a high school for immigrant teens. tracy nicole here in miami, you're the first call for author brooke hauser. >> caller: hi. good afternoon. it's such a pleasure to have you both here in miami. welcome to our city. as you can see, um, you know, we are very multicultured city full of people from different places, and i wanted to ask brooke, first, i want to congratulate her on her project. i think it's going to be a fundamental piece of work that can be utilized all around in the different educational

institutions. by question was -- my question was, how do you feel from the time you experienced high school to what you experienced writing the project, the book and the difference in how you would forecast the future of education in the 21st century of america? >> guest: um, you know, this book isn't really about education per se, and i'm not an education expert. but i would love to see more of these high schools, um, set up. it's not the specific mod -- if not the specific model then, you know, i think there's a real problem in addressing the needs of new immigrants who are also learning english. i grew up in miami, actually, and, um, miami -- as you pointed out -- is a city of, you know, very multicultural city. i went to school with a lot of kids from cuba and haiti, peru, everywhere. and, you know, i live inside new york for a while, spent time in l.a. in new york and l.a. it was recently news that those cities,

big cities are not meeting the needs of english language learners. and, you know, they're treated as a relatively low priority in the public school system, and i think that's largely because, you know, they don't -- not all the kids have voice yet. and if they don't have voices, the parents especially don't have voices because they may not all speak english. so i think it's important to give all kids a great education, and that's what i would like to see is, um, better programs and better schools for the kids who need it most. >> host: brooke hauser, with so many nationalities represented at this school in brooklyn, were there tensions between kids from different countries? >> guest: yeah, definitely. you know, one of the ones that always comes to mind, and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't too bad, but, um, tibetan students and chinese students. the whole reason that a lot of kids and their families lefty

bet in the first place was they were not able to fully practice their culture, their language, their religion, you know, under chinese government control. so here, you know, step into the cafeteria at the international high school, and there are still tensions among those groups, between those groups. and i remember one day a flier was passed out to advertise an upcoming meeting of the tibetan club, and a number of chinese boys defaced it and said tibet is inside of china. and, you know, that really riled up some of the tibetan kids, so things like that do happen. >> host: pearl in new york city, you're on with author brooke hauser. this is booktv on c-span2. >> caller: hello. fabulous book. i would like to know if you have any tips for teachers and professors about how these teachers handle the perspectives and points of view of students

especially where students had very different perspectives? when i was the head of an english department at a college, i had teachers who were, became very concerned about students who wrote papers ranting and raving about the government. and i would interview the students and find they're not talking about washington, they're talking about the eastern bloc country that thai just come from -- that they've just come from. so how did these teachers handled that, where students literally did not have what we would call an american perspective on certain cultural or historical experiencial issues as yet? thank you. >> host: thank you, pearl. >> guest: well, that's a good question and, again, the thing that immediately comes to mind is i was there in 2008-2009, the year that barack obama was elected president. and that was fascinating for me because, um, the kids didn't quite grasp the significance of this moment in america's

history, the moment that a black man becomes president, why that was such a huge deal in the united states. and that's because a lot of the kids were coming from haiti or, you know, western africa, places where they've always had or for a long time have had black leaders. so some of, you know, the students didn't, they didn't have the same perspective, same point of view as some american-born kids would have. and the way that the teachers seemed to handle it is they just shared their own experience. so the teachers told their students why it was so significant to them personally to see a black man elected president. and they took it one step farther, and they said, you know, i'm going to vote tomorrow, and here's how you vote. you go to, you know, your local school or church, and this is what you do, and this is how you do it, and this is why it's important to vote. ..

>> guest: they really make strides at the high school. i mentioned the nomadic yak heard before, the most popular girl, and that same girl, she a writer, not knowing, not knowing how to read or write. she is now at an excellent liberal arts college. and that can show how hard she worked in four years. and so many of the kids want to go to college. >> host: to the teachers

volunteered? who is the principal? >> guest: the original principle is actually an immigrant herself of ecuador. you know come her story is very interesting because as a chance you can hear herself undocumented. since then she's become, you know, she here legally of course. but her story was very interesting. she's so passionate about the school. she had such a moving star herself. and it would passionate students looked up to a. as far as the teachers, recruit in all different ways, all different backgrounds. many of them are young, many of them speak different languages. but they are as much a hodgepodge in some way the kids are. >> host: are you still in contact with somebody gets? >> guest: yes, i was invited to give the 2011 commencement speech at graduation, which was a very moving moment for me. and so i saw one of the boys from sierra leone graduate, and

so other kids who i know. and then, of course, there is facebook. i have way too many, unicom teenagers who are my facebook friends. >> host: brooke hauser is who we're talking with. this is her new first book, "the new kids." brookehauser.com is a website. she also writes or has written for the new york times, "the miami herald," the "l.a. times." and was an editor for premiere magazine. what kind of writing are you doing? are you working on another book? >> guest: i need to find another subject that allows as much as this one, and i intend to. >> host: anything in mind? >> guest: i have a few ideas, but nothing that is taking quite yet so i'm on the look at. if you have ideas for me let me know. >> host: you say you grew up here in miami? where did you go to school? >> guest: yes. >> host: college? >> guest: kenyon college in ohio.

american studies. a little bit of everything. >> host: how did you into the writing business? >> guest: it started with "the miami herald." i went to an enormous public high school, and i had one of these images, that's an internship programs that you do outside of school. so i started at "the miami herald," and covered city and we found a love for journalism and kept added. >> host: robert in brooklyn, home of the international high school. go ahead with your question transfer yes, but i had a quick question about the school system. who is paying for the school system for the non-english speaking children that are immigrants. and isn't going to come out of my tax money for this free education that american citizens can't get? >> well, american citizens can get a free education, unicom every american is supposed to a

free public education but as i was mentioning. and the international high school, the one is funded by the department of education, but they also get a lot of outside grants and support from other organizations. so, you know, as i said before it behooves our country to educate all children. you don't want a bunch of uneducated children. that's not the preface to the preference is for us to have contributing valuable members of society, regardless of legal status. >> host: next call comes from mike in hawaii. go ahead, mike. >> caller: thank you. i just want to ask, your school, new school, what is the percentage of kids that come from china or from the different countries? and also if the school is taking

advantage of new technology like presenting material like on youtube or other material that has been put out, and he seems to be a resistance from a lot of public schools to use that because they feel it might replace the teacher. and i just wanted to ask if the school could take advantage of this, you know, technology that wasn't of a look and let's or 15 years ago. >> guest: sure. as for the percentage, there are a lot of students from china. there are a lot of students from the dominican republic. you know, some a different countries are represented by those are big populations. regarding the technology, i think the teachers and staff are looking for different tools to teach students.

and you know, at the school, there's a documentary club. the kids are involved in filmmaking. when kids are learning english, i think it's important to take advantage of all the different tools that are out there. you know, our class, for instance. when you don't speak the language, what a great thing to begin with, drawing and painting and expressing yourself. with outward first and then gradually becoming comfortable enough to begin using those words. technology, i was a, i think at any school there's the question of whether there are funds for that. >> host: with a few minutes left with brooke hauser. again, brookehauser.com is a website. franklin, tennessee, good afternoon from miami. >> caller: good afternoon, brooke. thank you for doing this book. i am a retired english teacher,

and i taught in california public schools. i also recognize -- [inaudible] my question for you is this. did you find any schools in new york students -- speak with kind of gaelic whereas possible students of other schools? >> guest: as what kind of students? >> host: we didn't quite catch that. >> caller: speaking from the english speaking who speak a gallic of english. were there any at your school? english criminal. >> guest: oh, oh, yeah. i mean, there were kids, a creel of english? the one that comes to mind, of

course this area brookland is full of people from arabia, places, but when you say a creel of english, creole accent, sierra leone. unit, that was interesting. but when she spoke, those after language and also spoke creo. the words are so similar. that i think it plays tricks on your heirs a little bit. he taught me some phrases like i know how to say how are you feeling in creole. it means how is the body. you say i'm doing well. you say the body find. a lot of people spoke creole and kitsch of other countries pick up little bits of creole as are also picking up standard english. >> host: are the kids on the cover, is this a model?

>> caller: those are stock photos of kids. i had a great designer, but including input into the covert and choosing the kids who i thought i really wanted to represent the diversity of the school. >> host: was there hierarchy among students based on nationality at all? >> guest: note that wasn't. i was looking for things like that as looking for the mean girls and the jocks and the class clowns and the nerds, and all the typical high school cliques. i found the yakkers, really truly yakkers and farmers from tibet. i found groups to assure a group of boys who always aspire to be here designed can which i don't know, i don't know what head designer is exactly but if you asked them what they want to be, they said head designer because like five boys for every day they came up with and was his

his hands and mohawks and co-authored for the group and cavity called the arabic family. boys mostly from yemen after all these different groups and rap groups. but no hierarchy. the kids were equals. >> host: weather issues among the different religious groups? you mentioned the arab family. >> guest: the arabic family, yes. there were sometimes you hear discussions about palestine and israel. i don't really get into any of that in the book. you would hear, sort of the kids on china and the kids from tibet who are buddhist. there were not a lot of religious tensions at the school, no. but there were a lot of kids who are muslim and who are struggling to deal with how to manage and kind of balance their muslim cultures and traditions with, you know, life in america

like for instance, going to prom, some of the girls couldn't get their father to let them go to prom. there were more issues like that, not tension between religion so much as tensions between the old world and new. >> host: time for one more call for brooke hauser. her book is "the new kids." larry and atlanta. you're the last word, go ahead. >> caller: good morning. [inaudible] >> guest: are the teachers bilingual? time and we got that part. was the second half of your question? hard to hear. >> caller: of the teachers the same requirements? >> guest: yes, the teachers have coming in, standard backgrounds like similar you find at other schools in your city and around the country.

but no, it's not a requirement to be bilingual but many of the teachers are bilingual, and trilingual, trilingual and quad -- i'm not going to go there. they speak, some of them, threat several different languages. that helps tremendously. especially if you have a student who is one of the only students who speaks her own language. >> host: this is the book, it's called "the new kids: big dreams and brave journeys at a high school for immigrant teens." the author is brooke hauser, and its brookehauser.com in case you would like to go to our website and see some reviews on the book. published by free press. thank you brooke hauser. >> guest: thank you so much. >> every weekend of tv offers 48 hours. watch it here on c-span2. >> recently "the new york times" released their top 10 best books

of 2011. here are the five nonfiction titles.