Valeska Cardona, 9, is still far from calling herself conversational in English — she’s trying to remember how to pronounce the word orange — but she says she’s cracked the code for making a friend.

“You have to say, ‘Hi, how are you, what’s your name? My name is Valeska,’” Cardona said. Sometimes the native Spanish speaker will ask, “where you from?”

Back home in Venezuela, Cardona said she knew the days of the week in Spanish. Now she’s learning them in English – “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Thursday, Thursday!” her 7-year-old friend interjected during an after school program at the Salvation Army Times Square.

Cardona is among thousands of New York City public school students who arrived in the U.S. in the last year-and-a-half and are learning English.

Child advocates, educators and social services providers say migrant students face significant barriers to schooling in general, let alone having to learn a new language. And local groups are getting creative, using music and play to encourage language skills.

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