RESPECTING CHALLENGES

First generation American teaches ESL to immigrant kids

It was the pursuit of better schools that prompted Samantha Savitsky’s parents to move first from Hong Kong to Brooklyn, where their daughter was born, and then from Brooklyn to Demarest. Since then, Savitsky has internalized the importance they placed on education, and become a teacher herself. For the last two years, she has been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in North Bergen, often helping immigrant kids whose parents made the same choices as hers.

As a college student, Savitsky studied early childhood elementary education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She became certified to teach in that state and New Jersey, returned to Bergen and taught at The Spring School in Tenafly, a Montessori program where for six years, she worked with kids of mixed ages in all subjects.

Savitsky left her job when she became pregnant with her son, Brody, now 10, and her then-husband was deployed by the U.S. Army to Ghazni, Afghanistan. Now returned to teaching fulltime, she says that “There’s a crazy need for ESL teachers here at the moment,” and points out that the vast majority of students enrolled in North Bergen are Hispanic.

Though Savitsky can speak conversational Cantonese and knows the basics of Spanish, she says that ESL teachers aren’t required to speak another language. She does, though, appreciate what her young pupils and their families have been through to have better lives. “I give out little pencils and erasers, and they treasure them so much, they’ll sharpen them till they’re tiny,” she says.

Here are 6 things you should know about Samantha Savitsky.

She respects the challenges her students face.

“Most of them haven’t had any sort of education in their country,” says Savitsky. “They mostly help their parents and take care of babies and their siblings. Their parents work odd jobs during the day, take a few hours to sleep and work more during the night.”

Savitsky says that getting the immigrant kids acclimated to the U.S. school system is a major concern, and she gives them a lot of credit for how much they’ve overcome. “There’s the language barrier,” she says. “Some of them have knowledge of English, and some don’t.”

Her students share unforgettable stories.

One girl who is now in third grade and was recently classified as having special needs told Savitsky that she was from Guatemala, and had to push her baby sister in an old car tire across a river. Her mother, the girl said, was behind her with her aunt, and it took a long time to make it across. “I didn’t really know how to swim,” the girl said, so, not wanting her sister to get wet, she tried to float on the the tire.

Being a teacher gives her insight into childrearing.

Savitsky says she sees the phases kids go through and the stress they can feel while at school, and that gives her perspective and patience. Conversely, she says, her experiences at the Montessori school help her know what to expect with her own kids at home.

Savitsky also teaches adults — traditional and hot yoga.

She says she always practiced yoga on her own, and got into hot yoga — a form of the practice conducted as exercise under hot and humid conditions — in 2010 at Fire Shaper studio in Westwood. “I loved it so much, I wanted to get certified and share my love of yoga,” she says. She also appreciates the flexibility of scheduling her hour-long classes — in addition to her son, she has a daughter named Mila, age 8 — and how teachers sub for each other. Recently, she also began teaching traditional as well as hot yoga at Fire Shaper Tenafly.

Her photography hobby grew into another side gig.

For the last decade, Savitsky has owned and operated Mila Samantha Photography, found at milasamphoto.com. It is an outgrowth of the regular praise she received for her amateur shots, she says. She takes outdoor lifestyle photos outdoors and family portraits on weekends and some evenings, noting that demand skyrockets during the September-December holiday season.

She has advice for other moms who are juggling multiple commitments.

Accepting support is key, says Savitsky, who credits her parents for providing much-needed child care. “I don’t like asking for help, but my kids love my parents, and my dad retired, so I rely on him a lot,” she says. She also carries around a paper day planner, and has recently started recording dates in her phone calendar as a backup. “I’m obsessed with my planner and take it everywhere I go,” she says. Practicing yoga keeps her from getting exhausted. “Find time for yourself,” she advises. “As much mom guilt as I get from leaving to work out, there’s no way around it. You have to do it for your mental health.”

A recent addition to the family has also contributed to mental wellbeing and family cohesiveness: Minnie, their Bijon-poodle puppy. “My kids love going for walks with me around the block with her,” says Savitsky. “She’s a great emotional support dog.”