In December I got an email from Deepa Fernandes, early childhood development correspondent for 89.3 KPCC Public Radio in Southern California. She wanted to interview me and visit Camila’s elementary school because she was working on a series on bilingual education. The 3-part series finally airs this week and I got to listen to the first one live this morning. You can listen to it here or below.
The series called “Bilingual Learning: The science, options and dilemma of dual language education” started off today by showcasing the many dual language immersion early education and elementary options available for children in the Los Angeles area. California now has over 300 schools that offer this program, with Los Angeles being the county with the most offerings starting in kindergarten. What makes me happy is to know that these programs are increasing exponentially and there are just so many more options available at every level than we had even four years ago when we started exploring bilingual education on SpanglishBaby.
KPCC has also put together a very comprehensive and impressive site at projects.scpr.org/bilinguallearning. I urge you to explore it even if you don’t live in Los Angeles because it’s full of information on language learning and the developing mind and stories of the bilingual education dilemma some immigrant families face.
If you do live in the Los Angeles area, then you must dig in and bookmark this site. There are profiles on the following schools and programs:
1. Academia Semillas del Pueblo
4. Bell Tower Trilingual School
7. Los Angeles Leadership Academy
Courtesy of 89.3 KPCC, a picture of my daughter hugging me after I finished reading a book in Spanish to her classroom at Franklin Language Magnet.
KPCC’s site also includes a comprehensive map of the state’s more than 300 bilingual schools that you can search by city and language of choice. This was so needed and I’m thankful for it! Check out the map here.
To culminate this fantastic coverage on bilingual education, on Saturday, January 26th, I will join KPCC’s Early Childhood Development correspondent Deepa Fernandes for “Should Kids’ Classrooms Be English-Only?”, a conversation about those and other questions surrounding bilingual education in Southern California. A panel of professional- and parent guests will kick off this audience-inclusive discussion to be held at Los Angeles Leadership Primary Academy in Lincoln Heights. I would love to see many of you there. If you’re in the area and would like to join us, please RSVP here and/or help us spread the word.
I really enjoyed this post and article!! I’ve always believed that my son would be bilingual and felt competent enough go give him this gift from birth. I appreciate the growth in immersion programs throughout the LA area, but wish these programs were more wide spread. Not only throughout the area, but I would also like to see a growth in full immersion programs in preschools.
I agree that we need more preschools, especially since there’s a huge need for native speakers of the target language in immersion programs. We are hopeful though, because in the four years we’ve been writing about the tooic we’ve seen a massive change in the landscape. All of us are making a difference!
Thanks for a great post. I loved the articles on the links!
My daughter attends an immersion school and had no Spanish background when she started. After less than two years, she is speaking, reading and writing Spanish very well. These programs work!! It’s always great to hear about their growing popularity as everyone deserves to give their kids the gift of being bilingual.
Thank you so much for sharing that! More parents like you need to share their experience because we find it really motivates other parents to know that it really does work and that children and parents will succeed.
Ana, Thank YOU for all your pioneering work in reporting about this field. Spanglish Baby was an invaluable resource, and at times the only resource, as we researched and put together the series. Much respect and thanks to you.
See you Saturday!
Deepa
Deepa, it means a lot to us that you say this. Thank you so much for all the time and effort you and your team put into this report. It’s invaluable and much-needed!
I wish that bilingual education was more widespread across the country, especially in the South! I’m currently living in Southern Virginia and there are no bilingual education options here. None. We will more than likely be moving further South when my son actually starts Kindergarten. I’ve been researching schools there and there are none in the area where we’d be living either. It looks like I may have to start doing some advocating! SpanglishBaby has definitely been a huge resource for me! Thank you!