Editor’s note: In the next months, we’ll be bringing you interviews with those who have first-hand experience with dual language immersion schools or programs: the parents who have their kids enrolled in them. The idea is to give you a closer look at what these programs are really like, how and why they work, as well as some of the challenges they face. Thanks to our contributor Elsie for coming up with this great idea!

Today, I’m happy to share my second interview with a Jackson Elementary Spanish Immersion parent, Liliana Awori.

Jackson Elementary is located in Pasadena, California on a lovely campus which includes an outdoor classroom and school garden. As Liliana notes, the biggest challenge for this school is perception as its neighborhood is mixed socioeconomically and they have been increasing test scores. Upon my visit to the campus, the students seemed happy and the community feeling was quite warm and inviting. It was one of the schools in our district with a library and part-time librarian (many do not have librarians at all). It can also boast it’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program which sets it apart from other immersion programs.

SpanglishBaby: Many of our readers are bilingual themselves, and hope to pass this legacy on to their children. However, there are also many Spanglishbaby readers who are monolingual. When did you become interested in bilingual education and why? Is it an old or new tradition for your family?

Liliana: My oldest daughter attends Jackson ES DLIP Kindergarten. My husband is Kenyan and is bilingual (English and Swahili). I am a first generation immigrant from Honduras. My parents were bilingual (English and Spanish) but I was never taught Spanish. My mother’s mindset was along the lines of “You are in America. You speak English.” As a result I’ve always felt disconnected from my heritage. I want my children to have a connection to some portion of their heritage. I heard about Pasadena Unified School District language classes back in 2008; I was intrigued and excited. After much research and speaking to other parents participating in the program we felt like it would be a great option for our family.

SB: What is your school’s educational philosophy? (Ex. play-based, traditional, developmental, etc.)

Liliana: Jackson’s educational philosophy is traditional with a particular focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The STEM program was one of the major draws for us. The science classroom and science teacher are impressive. Half the kindergarteners go to the science lab once a week, where the focus is mostly on life science. During science the other half of the class is in our community garden. In the garden they plant seeds, weed their bed and water the rest of the garden. Our classroom has a fire-belly newt named Panchito, they’ve also raised caterpillars/butterflies and a worm farm. In addition to the STEM program, Jackson has a partnership with the Center for Arts at the Amory. My daughter is thriving and loving learning.

SB: What was the transition like for your child when they started school? How did you notice their language ability evolve over time?

Liliana: My daughter has friends who are bilingual, she was anxious to learn Spanish “so I can talk to Mateo”. We participated in the Pasadena Educational Foundation summer program, which was an introduction to kindergarten DLIP. After the first two days in the program, she cried and refused to go to class. Complaining that her head hurt and she didn’t know what the teachers were saying. However after the first week she happily went to class all summer and even taught her younger sisters some of the Spanish she was learning. When the school year began she was ready to go, there was still some talk about not understanding her teacher but it wasn’t much. As to her language ability an excellent example occurred during the class holiday/Christmas party. I and another Spanish speaking mom were serving the children, and I needed the mom to pass me a plate. My daughter saw me searching for the Spanish words and came to my rescue and translated the request. I was completely floored, I knew she was learning Spanish but I had never heard her speak naturally and spontaneously.

SB: Language is not only an intellectual skill, but also a social skill. How has learning Spanish enriched your student’s social experiences and friendships?

Liliana: My daughter has always been an outgoing person, we call her the mayor of Jackson and now with Spanish she is even more able to make friends. She has even offered her translating service to our elderly neighbor, Mrs. Harris. When she found out that Mrs. Harris had to let go of the Latino pool guy her response was “You know I can communicate with him, if Mrs. Harris needs me too.”

SB: How does your school incorporate Latino/a culture and celebrate the diverse backgrounds of its students?

Liliana: Acknowledgement of diversity has been woven throughout the curriculum by using authentic folklore, fieldtrips and special classroom guest. During Hispanic Heritage Month we had a fun slide show of our own school staff from Latino countries, the DLIP teacher, M. Tovar, was even included in the El Salvador slide. Our staff is a mirror of our student population, from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups. The staff works to model positive interrelations so that the students will do the same. Our class also participated in the Cesar Chavez Essay and Art Contest.

SB: What is the experience like for parents at your school? How much parent involvement is encouraged?

Liliana: When the school year started, I was ready to jump into volunteering and helping anyway I could. It was obvious to me that the administration was very supportive of parent participation. There is a parent group that runs the garden and leads garden classes. The DLIP kindergarten also has “Friday Fun Day” every week, which is planned and executed solely through parent volunteers. The PTA even sponsored a volunteer challenge, the class that had the most volunteer hours would win a fieldtrip, and the participation was astounding.

SB: No school is perfect. What are some of the challenges, budgetary or otherwise that prospective parents should be aware of?

Liliana: Perception is Jackson’s greatest challenge. People assume because of the socioeconomic make up of our neighborhood and our past test scores that Jackson is a failing school. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our test scores have been on the rise the past three years. Our faculty is dedicated and innovative in their approach to teaching. Our students compete and participate in district wide programs with the support of their families. A modernization of the campus was completed in the spring of 2012. I believe if we could get more perspective parents to visit Jackson they would be pleasantly surprised with all the great things happening there.

SB: What is your child’s daily schedule?

Liliana: Our schedule is pretty straight forward we have school 7:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., after school she has about an hour of downtime for snack and play, then it’s homework time for 30 to 45 minutes. Once a week she has gymnastics, we also make a weekly visits to the Altadena Public Library and Altadena Farmers Market.

SB: What does your child love most about your school?

Liliana: My daughter loves recess like most kids, but academically she loves the science essaylab.org with all the live specimens.

SB: How can a prospective parent learn more about your school and enrollment?

Liliana: Please feel free to call the front office and arrange a tour (626) 396-5700.

{Photo courtesy of Liliana Awori}

Editor’s note: In the next months, we’ll be bringing you interviews with those who have first-hand experience with dual language immersion schools or programs: the parents who have their kids enrolled in them. The idea is to give you a closer look at what these programs are really like, how and why they work, as well as some of the challenges they face. Thanks to our contributor Elsie for coming up with this great idea!

After sharing my experiences investigating Kindergarten options for my daughter, including some Spanish Immersion Programs, it occurred to me that it might be useful for our readers to hear from parents at these schools, whose kids are living the immersion experience day-to-day. Today, I’m happy to share my first interview with a San Rafael Elementary Spanish Immersion parent, Michelle Calva-Despard:

Spanglishbaby (SB): Many of our readers are bilingual themselves and hope to pass this legacy on to their children. However, there are also many Spanglishbaby readers who are monolingual. When did you become interested in bilingual education and why? Is it an old or new tradition for your family?

Michelle: For me, personally, Spanish is a heritage language. My father’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico just a few years before his birth. Spanish was his first language and he arrived at the Kindergarten door without a speck of English.

Spanish wasn’t an authentic home-language for me as a child, but I heard a lot of it through my extended family and always had an interest in becoming bilingual. Unlike my three kids who are recieving a bilingual education since kindergarten, I learned my “foreign language” as a teenager by dissecting sentences and conjugating verbs on worksheets. It took me 10 years of study (middle, high school, college) and then a year abroad at university to become a proficient Spanish speaker/reader/writer. My children will likely exceed that level of fluency before they leave elementary school.

Also, even though I speak/read/write fluent Spanish, it will never be as authentic to me as English. I think that for my children, who are acquiring their second language in that supreme window before the language centers of the brain fully mature (around age 14), this will be different. (How ironic that I began my formal Spanish language studies at the age of 14!)

SB: What is San Rafael’s educational philosophy?

Michelle: Although the plan is to move toward a more “project based learning” style, the model of instruction currently rests in a more traditional seat — which is ironic as Dual Immersion Programs are hardly traditional in the U.S. At San Rafael the 90/10 model of instruction is implemented. This means that in kindergarten, the partner language (in our case, Spanish) is used for instruction 90% of the day. The remaining 10% is taught in English. Each year, the percentages shift by 10%, so in first grade 80% of the day is taught in Spanish, in second grade 70%. By fourth grade 50% of the school day is instructed in Spanish and 50% in English.

SB: What was the transition like for your child when they started at San Rafael? How did you notice their language ability evolve over time?

Michelle: I did speak to my children in Spanish at home, but even though they understood me, they consistently responded in English.

Then kindergarten began for my oldest daughter. During the second week she received a sticker for saying “¿Puedo ir al baño?” That was it. She came home and informed me that she was going to “hablar en español” all the time. As is often the case, with my third child I spoke less Spanish than I had with the first (I knew I would regret this and I was right!). My son entered kindergarten with far less Spanish language comprehension than his oldest sister had. The program still works though. As most of the students enter kindergarten with zero Spanish language ability, the teachers are prepared and ready to help them meet the challenges of a dual immersion program.

SB: Language is not only an intellectual skill, but also a social skill. How has learning Spanish enriched your student’s social experiences and friendships?

Michelle: Besides friendships with Spanish dominant Latino students at school, as they mature, my children are becoming more comfortable jumping into Spanish conversations away from campus. In Los Angeles County, it’s not hard to find Spanish speaking experiences. From ordering food in a restaurant to taking ballet foklorico dance classes, we try to take advantage of our surroundings.

SB: How does San Rafael incorporate Latino/a culture and celebrate the diverse backgrounds of its students?

Michelle: There are the obvious ties to holidays (Mexican Independence Day) and relevant historical figures (Cesar Chavez).

Our program has attracted quite a multicultural cadre of students outside of English and Spanish dominant students. We have a student whose first language was Polish, for example, and students of different religious faiths. The very nature of a bilingual program provides a dual “lense” through which to see the world. This opens the door to a variety of possibilities–from Chinese New Year (instructed in Spanish) and Hanukah, to taking a deeper look at the significance celebrations like Black History Month.

SB: When I toured your school, I was impressed by the active PTA. What is the experience like for parents at San Rafael? How much parent involvement is encouraged?

Michelle: Well you’ve struck a cord here–as I’m completing my second term as PTA President this spring! The dual language program at San Rafael is not something that any of us “stumbled into.” Enrolling our children in this program was a very intentional, informed decision. The types of parents who make a choice like this are more prone to becoming actively engaged in their child’s school. I have said to many an inquiring parent: “I came here for the program but now I stay for it and for the community we’ve built!

SB: No school is perfect. What are some of the challenges, budgetary or otherwise, facing San Rafael, that prospective parents should be aware of?

Michelle: Class sizes are larger than we would like. We’ve had a hard time funding a program coordinator which means the crux of program development, recruitment, etc… has landed in the principal’s/teachers’/parents’ lap. Like all public schools in California, we could use some more money!

SB: What is your child’s daily schedule at San Rafael?

Michelle: My children have a similar schedule to every student in the Pasadena Unified School District. They receive the same content and teachers instruct the same standards. The only difference is the language of delivery.

The school day begins at 7:50 am, and ends at 12:35 on Mondays, 2:15 Tuesday-Friday. It was hard, at first, to get used to such an early start to our day, but it didn’t take long and now I really like it. Even after a full day of school we can hit the park or library on the way home and still make it back before 4:00!

SB: What does your child love most about San Rafael?

Michelle: I know all three of my kids would answer this question the same: AMIGOS!!!

SB: How can a prospective parent learn more about San Rafael and enrollment?

Michelle: Parent volunteers hold weekly tours. A parent volunteer maintains our website which always carries up to date information and contact information for anyone with more questions.

Attend a PTA meeting (first Thursday of every month alternating after school/evening.) I welcome anyone interested to come get a taste of what we do at San Rafael. It’s been a challenging, sometimes crazy, adventure–and I wouldn’t trade my family’s experience for anything.

You can find more information here.

It’s time for our fourth SpanglishBaby LIVE Google+ Hangout and we’d love for you to join us tomorrow. This time around we’re discussing bilingualism and children with special needs. For those of you who’ve never joined a Google+ Hangout, you should know that it’s just like hanging out with a bunch of friends, except that you’re not all in the same room.

WHAT: In our fourth Hangout we’ll be discussing the basics of bilingual education and dual language immersion programs as part of Google’s #SpringIntoEducation movement.

WHEN: Thursday, March. 28 at 1 p.m. EST.

WHO: Joining Ana and I will be Liza Sánchez, a bilingual education specialist and founder and board chair of Escuela Bilingüe Internacional (EBI) in Oakland, California. EBI is the first independent school in California to offer a Spanish-English dual language program, extending from pre-K through 8th grade.

Melanie McGrath the coordinator of dual immersion and transitional bilingual education programs in Southern California. She provides professional development training and assistance to parents, bilingual teachers and administrators in the areas of biliteracy development, bilingual program design and English language development. She can also be found blogging on Multilingual Mania.

There are many ways for you to be part of this Google Hangout online.

1. First of all, RSVP on the event page.

2. Add the SpanglishBaby Google+ Page to your Circles.

3. On Tuesday, March 12, starting at 1 p.m. EST, the SpanglishBaby Live Hangout will go on air and you’ll be able to watch it on the event page and on our YouTube channel.

4. The hashtag for all our SpanglishBaby Live Hangouts is #BilingualKids and you can use it on Google+, Twitter or Instagram and we’ll find you!

5. Once the Hangout is over, a recording of it will be made available for all to view, share and/or embed on the SpanglishBaby YouTube channel.

If you’d like to have your question related to raising bilingual and/or bicultural kids answered by ourselves or one of our experts, please fill out this form. If you’re interested in participating in one of our SpanglishBaby Live Google+ Hangouts, you’ll be able to let us know in the form too.

If you want to learn more about Google+ Hangouts On Air, check out this page. Feel free to leave us any questions or suggestions in the comments area below, on the event page or our Google+ page and Community!

There are two public dual language immersion elementary schools in my county, and there’s one school that offers everyday foreign language lessons, though it’s not an immersive setting. We applied for two of the three total options for next school year, when my son starts kindergarten, and just received word that he was not selected for either. We could choose to stay on the waiting list and wait for several months to have an official answer about that, but that doesn’t make it too easy to plan where we will send my stepdaughters to school (they are also at the mercy of magnet program decisions and the location of their siblings’ schools).

Of late, I have admitted to feeling that I’m slacking in the bilingual parenting arena because my son gets most of his Spanish input at his father’s house. I was hoping to at least be able to provide more support for his bilingualism by sending him to a school that emphasizes its importance, but it looks like he will have the standard school experience, at least for now.

Honestly, I’m perfectly fine with that, and even a little relieved. The more I step back from my attachment to my son, I see him as a boy that will grow into a capable man who, like all other adults, will ultimately choose if or how he wants Spanish to factor into his life. There is not necessarily a cause-effect relationship between going to a dual language school, or living in a bilingual family for that matter, and becoming a truly bilingual adult. Sure, there is a correlation, but none of us knows if our decisions directly make our kids into who they are.

I look at all my friends who were raised by parents that adamantly focused on one value or endeavor, such as a religion or a culturally derived belief. Those are the same friends who have deviated the most from the way they were raised. The more fanatical the parents were, the more curious the kids became about other ways to live. Granted, I haven’t done any formal experiments, but I have a hunch that this association is not imagined.

While I believe in bilingualism as one of the greatest gifts we can give our children, I think this same relationship may apply. We can promote the second language, model cultural acceptance, and fill their bookshelves with Spanish libros, but we certainly cannot guarantee the outcome. Some of us will be excited to see our kids gladly using Spanish every day in the future, while others may be a bit disappointed if they choose to steer away from it. Our efforts are not in vain, but those efforts need to have limits. For me, the limit is the waiting list.

There is a clear difference between exposing our kids to the things that are important to us and completely hooking our identity to their achievements. As hard as it is, I’m going to give up the fight for now and see where this random school decision will take our family. I need to follow my own instincts and not try to force Spanish into my son’s school life if it will create more stress for everyone. I’d rather stick to our regular goofing off in Spanish and letting his stepsisters read him Spanish stories for now. I never want to lose sight of my favorite parts of bilingualism – like being able to find humor in flawed translations. Little treasures like that are more valuable than any Spanish homework will ever be.

Photo from news.com.au

The magic words “make them learn English” from The Economist — Immigration reform was huge this week and with that came talk of whether undocumented immigrants on their path to American citizenship should be required to learn English. As long as they’re not prohibited from speaking their native language, the author says, and I couldn’t agree more. “The solution to this apparent conundrum is very simple: bilingualism. It’s a healthy thing that Americans have historically been too suspicious of.”

The U.S. needs to embrace its Latino personality from The Globe and Mail — A great read about the history of Spanish and Latinos in the U.S. from the author’s of the forthcoming book The Story of Spanish, which I can’t wait to read.

Valley Elementary’s dual language program thrives from Pomerado News —  I love reading about successful DL programs and this one in California is no exception. Already in it’s 11th year, the program’s original students are now in high school taking advantage of the gift of being bilingual.

Hoping to hold on to younger generations, Hispanic churches include more English from The Washington Post — “Unlike their immigrant parents who strive to learn English, some younger English-speaking and bilingual Hispanics are so immersed in the American culture that they are choosing to join mainstream English-language churches.” More proof of how native languages are lost by the third generation. I’m pretty sure this will be the case for my bilingual kids: they’ll speak Spanish, but will prefer English.

“English Only” Laws Divide and Demean by Warren J. Blumenfeld on The Huffington Post — One of my favorite reads this week. Warren, and associate professor at Iowa State University’s School of Education, writes clearly and convincingly about why “English Only” laws should not exist.

Can Bilingualism Help With Rescuing Children From Poverty from Science 2.0 — A study has found that children with low socioeconomic backgrounds who are raised bilingual have better cognitive skills than their monolingual peers. An extremely interesting read.

A Spanish course for native speakers from The Boston Globe — If only this had been available when I was in high school. Kudos to the teacher who proposed it and the students who are attending it. More schools should follow suit.

Belvidere kindergartners excel in dual language program from Rockford Register Star — I love to find out that more and more schools are realizing the benefits of dual language immersion programs. Here’s another success story!

Hablen inglés… por favor from The Economist — Interesting article on what would happen to Spanish if Puerto Rico were to become the 51st state of the Union. Do you think it would go away?

Yesterday was the first day of the 2012 “Education Nation” National Summit, taking place from Sept. 23-25 in New York City. The three-day event – which draws more than 300 of the country’s thought leaders in education, government, business, philanthropy and media, is focusing on successful examples of innovation in education, including bilingual education.

Summit sessions, moderated by top NBC News journalists, and NBC’s on-air programming will highlight a series of case studies from communities across the country, providing tools and takeaways for participants and viewers. One of those case studies, is Geddes Elementary in Baldwin Park, California and their dual-language immersion program.

Check out the video below to see how fascinating these programs are and how they truly serve as a model to improve fledgling school systems. Then, visit EducationNation.com for more detailed information and in-depth interviews with Geddes Elementary parents and staff.

The Summit is being live-streamed on EducationNation.com (check out full schedule here), and I suggest you put an alert to watch the panel discussion on child development, literacy, dual language, and minority students on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 8:55 a.m. EST. Panelists include Richard J. Noriega, President and CEO, AVANCE; Virginia Castro, principal, Geddes Elementary School; and Patricia Kuhl, Professor of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington.

{Photo credit: EducationNation.com}