An almost impossible job

Flathead Valley residents are an interesting lot. They have all sorts of talents, some job-related and others derived from hobbies and special assignments. While we're here by choice, sometimes a fascinating person passes through the valley. Such is Wes Koster from Minneapolis. He comes frequently to visit his mother who lives just south of Somers. Wes has an unusual job that seems impossible, but he does it with class. He teaches English to foreign immigrants who don't know our language, who are blind, and sometimes deaf, and often don't know the "Braille" system of communicating. On top of it all, Koster is legally blind himself! Could you do it? I could not, but listen to Koster's story…it will amaze you.

Born 38 years ago in Big Timber, Wes contracted juvenile diabetes. That resulted in his blindness, but before that happened he earned a bachelor's degree in German from Concordia College in Minnesota. He had further training in Russian, Norwegian, Spanish, Japanese, Dakota and ASL (American Sign Language.) Koster is one of those rare individuals who has a talent for quickly learning and understanding foreign languages, whether they be Asian, European or the language of native Americans. He has always had a hobby-interest in word origins and comparisons of word similarities in different languages. He eventually had to master Braille and did so quite easily. This system of six raised dots in various combinations was developed in 1829 by Louis Braille of France. The six dots can be arranged in 63 combinations and they represent the 26 letters of the Roman (our) alphabet, a sign for numbers and capital letters and various shorthand sounds (wh-, ch-, th- etc.) Other six-dot combinations represent commonly used words (and, for, of, etc.). The writings (there is a Braille typewriter called a Brailler) are "read" by passing the fingertips rapidly over the dot matrix. That's fine if it's all in English, but what happens in Spanish, for example, where accented vowels (a, e, ', o. u) are used as symbols. Their dot structure lends no clue as to their sound, meaning or relation to the unaccented vowels. Many of Koster's students do write in Braille, both in English and their native language. He gives them materials and homework in Braille, both in English and their native language. Some know Braille only in their native languages when they arrive in the United States and others have no Braille skills at all.

Some students have never encountered their own language in Braille. Some of his Somali students knew English Braille well enough but were amazed when Koster, just for fun, wrote some words and phrases in their language in Braille. They understood them perfectly because there were no special symbols in written Somali.

Koster has found it useful to use actual examples when teaching the visually impaired. Recently he brought a variety of fruits and vegetables to class. The lesson was to learn their names. One student was unemployed, low on cash and too proud to ask for assistance. Koster saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. When they returned to class they played a memorization game; every item the student correctly committed to memory, he got to take home!

Some humorous events occur. Koster made a list of words and phrases for his Spanish-speaking students to practice their pronunciation. One of the phrases was, "Baby beavers live between the streams." This is a particularly difficult set of sounds for someone from Latin America. One particular student mastered the phrase, but always showed some confusion. He finally admitted that he had no clue what a beaver was, even with the translation. He'd never heard of such an animal.

Koster said, "Some students are surprised that the United States has a higher degree of expectation from them. Sometimes their native cultures look on their conditions as totally disabling and they are relegated to social obscurity. When they discover that here they have to work harder the rewards are all that more satisfying."

Another example emphasizes the problems that Koster must overcome. He has a female Polish student who encounters many frustrations. Her hearing is poor and she cannot distinguish about half the sounds in English. English spelling is one of the most difficult aspects of our language to learn. Koster has to spell out the English word using Polish phonetics to convey the pronunciation to her. Then he spells it out for her in English the proper way. "It's a round about process to be sure, but it works," he said. For comparison, Koster pointed out that, "Tibetan is more difficult than English as far as spelling and silent letters are concerned. In that language most of the letters in any given word, sometimes four or five whole syllables, are all silent but one!"

Koster lives in the right state for his unusual talents to be appreciated. Immigrants and refugees flock to Minnesota for the health services available. Many choose the Minneapolis area and often their first task is to master English despite their visual or hearing disabilities. Koster is a part of the Vision Loss Resources Rehabilitation Center, which is a non-profit facility for private contracts with the Minnesota State Services for the Blind. Koster's unique program, designed by him, provides an important key for helping such people adjust to our country and culture.

He is a most unique individual.