When Diana Isaac began teaching in the bilingual program at Lake Highlands Elementary, one of her first tasks was to convince Anglo parents their children’s education wouldn’t be jeopardized by the Spanish-speakers in the class.
“I had one mother tell me she did not want her son learning Spanish, that she didn’t want him in the class at all,” Isaac says. “I invited her to come and see what we do.”
What the parent saw transformed her perception of LHE’s bilingual program. Not only did she become room mother and help with numerous projects throughout the year, but she also became one of the program’s top boosters.
The LHE program is unusual, but it may be the wave of the future. At the school, native Spanish-speakers share their bilingual teacher with English-speaking students in a method that combines traditional bilingual with English as a Second Language (ESL) methods. Isaac, for example, instructs primarily in English, using Spanish to provide support and individual attention to students.
Results of the approach have been gratifying: 100 percent of the native Spanish-speakers at the school passed TAAS last year, says Principal Joyce Wilson, while retaining literacy in their own language.
The school, along with Northlake Elementary, is considering the adoption of a dual language program to allow English-speakers the opportunity to receive instruction in Spanish.
Because studios show that students who are academically proficient in their own languages transfer their knowledge readily to English, bilingual programs build cognitive skills in Spanish while the students learn English.
In contrast, ESL teachers present course material in English using special methods to increase students’ comprehension. Depending on the services available at a particular school, students may receive instruction from ESL-certified teachers anywhere from 45 minutes daily to the entire school day.
ESL is provided at all RISD schools. Bilingual classes are offered only at Northlake and Lake Highlands elementaries.
Although educators debate the merits of bilingual versus ESL programs, most now believe immersion – where students are placed in classrooms with no special support – rarely succeeds.
By the time students acquire enough English to understand the teacher, they trail academically to the point that they don’t understand the content, teachers say. Only the brightest can make up the deficiency; for the rest, fluency in both languages is lost.
Immersion becomes increasingly problematic at higher grade levels, where the amount and the complexity of the material students must master increases.
Gonzalo Ramirez, RISD’s bilingual/ESL/pre-K program director, says most criticism of special language programs occurs when schools utilize methods unsupported by research. Immersion requires students to sink or swim, and too many of them drown, Ramirez says.
“Three of us graduated from high school,” Ramirez says, drawing on his personal experience. “In sixth-grade, there were 60 of us.”
Lack of support in acquiring language skills explains in large part the other students’ failure to complete their basic education.
Teachers acknowledge that teaching students with limited English skills is a challenge, but not for the reasons one might expect.
“The students are so eager to learn,” says Northlake’s Delia Pace. “And they aren’t behavior problems.” Forest Meadow Junior High’s Johanna Edgar agrees.
“They are so resilient, it’s really amazing,” she says. “Most of them are so lost and so appreciative of anything you can do.”
RISD’s population of students with limited English skills is increasing 12 percent annually, Ramirez says. The district goal should be to teach these children to function in American society without losing their cultural awareness, he says.
“That’s the beauty of our country,” Ramirez says. “We’re diverse, and we need to see the richness of that diversity.”
