ESCONDIDO -- When Julie Nguyen came to the Escondido Union School District from Vung Tau, Vietnam, last school year, it was obvious she was someone special, her teachers said.

"She came in with no English skills whatsoever and she found a way of communicating with everyone in her class," said Perry Tkachuk, who teaches math to English learners at Rincon Middle School in Escondido.

While most immigrants struggle to learn English, Julie made a point of learning Spanish as well so she could communicate with her classmates, who were all Latino.

"When I came to the class, I don't know how to speak nothing," she said recently. "They help me out because all my friends were Mexican."

Julie, 13, returned the favor.

"She taught the kids Vietnamese," Tkachuk said. "She was so open to it. Everyone loved her because she was so spectacular."

Julie also stayed after class and showed up early in order to clarify instructions and make sure her assignments were done correctly, Tkachuk said. Then, she would explain it to her classmates to make sure they understood.

"Julie (was) a school favorite because of her desire to reach out to students, regardless of language barriers or cultural differences," Tkachuk said. "It (wasn't) uncommon to hear a 'Buenos Dias!' screamed across the quad in the morning, only to find it's Julie greeting one of her Spanish-speaking friends."

Julie is now a ninth-grade student at Escondido High School and although she is in a more English-speaking environment, she hasn't stopped promoting trilingual education.

"When I come to high school, I still had friends from Mexico and they teach me," she said. "It's good to know different languages because when we get a job we will be better because we will know three languages."

Julie's efforts don't end in the classroom. When she goes home, she practices English with her father who brought Julie, her mother and brother to the United States to join Julie's maternal grandmother.

"I want to practice with him my English and his English," she said. "I want to help him know more English to get a good job."

While Julie said she will continue to learn from other cultural groups, there is one thing she will never understand: why her schoolmates separate themselves by race.

"It's good to make friends from different countries and learn different languages," she said. "The first time I came to school I was so scared because no one knew my language. But the next week, I made friends, and I wasn't scared."

Contact staff writer Adrienne A. Aguirre at (760) 740-3526 or aaguirre@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.