Dream of a Common Language. Sueño de un Idioma Común.
The graduates of a radical bilingual education program at Alicia R. Chacón International, in El Paso, would have no trouble reading either of these headlines. What can they teach the rest of us about the future of Texas?
5 comments
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009, 12:18 pm
Ana Lilian Flores says:
I can´t thank you enough for writing about this and shedding some much-needed positive light on the issue of bilingual education.
Dual-language immersion programs have continually proven to be successful when applied correctly and when supported at the district, state, school and parent level. Canada has been using this model effectively for over 30 years.
I live in Los Angeles and am constantly appalled by the lack of immersion programs due to political issues which are fed with fear and discrimination. We are only looking to give our children a bright future and acquire the necessary 21st century skills, not to make Spanish the official language. It is what it is.
Thanks again for writing this! I´ll be sharing it through my social network.
http://SpanglishBaby.com
Friday, August 28th, 2009, 12:18 pm
JD Meyer says:
It’s good to see pro-bilingual ed articles like this one. Until we extend bilingual ed to secondary ed, we’ll have plenty of older LEP kids bumbling with academic vocabulary even though they can find the cafeteria and gym. Transitional bilingual may be easier than dual immersion in secondary, especially with vocabulary development.
Friday, August 21st, 2009, 3:05 pm
Danelle says:
I think the dual-language program is an excellent plan, and I wish my three young children had the opportunity to take part in one like it where we live. No offense, Ms. Loessberg, but have you looked around Texas lately? We English-speakers are not the only ones here, and how arrogant it is to assume that others must learn English to communicate with us. I would have loved to have learned Spanish at such a young age; my mother was born in El Paso and went to elementary school there, and she still talks about how they learned Spanish starting in Kindergarten.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009, 7:08 pm
Justin Porter says:
It’s unfortunate that there are still so many people in Texas who seem to have strong opinions about bilingual education but have no inkling as to the actual pedagogy and research behind well run programs. English-only programs fail miserably when it comes to providing English language learners with the skills necessary to be successful in school. Current educational research indicates that 90/10 dual language programs like the one being implemented in the Ysleta ISD provide the absolute best results over the long term for English language learners.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009, 3:04 pm
Adele Loessberg says:
I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) as a volunteer to children who were in standard classrooms during the years of 1976 to around 1984. We brought these students from no English whatsoever (most were recent transplants) to being able to survive in the classroom in about a year. I was a volunteer and we saw them one-on-one for an hour twice a week. I think it’s a disservice to the non-English-speaking to offer bilingual education instead because in order to achieve in this country today it’s necessary to speak English.
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