You are probably wondering what happens inside a dual-language classroom and how similar or different it is from an all-English classroom.

In every school that I have had the pleasure of working at, the first few days go in a predictable manner: excited and nervous students walking through the doors of new classrooms, parents worried about what the new school year may bring, and teachers wondering what his/her new class will be like. Teachers prepare for weeks by brainstorming ways to present new material and writing lesson plans. As a matter of fact, I spent countless hours trying to cover all areas before diving into my dual-language adventure. I survived my first week and I am both happy and excited for the days to come.

While many of my posts have been geared towards what parents can do at home to support their children in their bilingual and bicultural adventure, I thought it would be interesting to share something that happened in my classroom this week. I call it confirmation of an “a-ha moment.”

Coming back from lunch on Wednesday last week, my class was getting ready to work on science. Since I am a fourth grade teacher, I teach 60% of the day in Spanish and the remaining 40% in English. I have divided my schedule so that English instruction takes place after lunch.

After all my students settled in, I told them in English what our next hour would look like. All of a sudden, one of my students raised her hand and shared how relieved she felt about switching to English. While I did not ask my student to elaborate, her comment was definitely something that stuck in my head. Once school was over, and my students were getting ready to go home, I chatted with my student and asked what she meant by being relieved of receiving instruction in English. She did not hesitate for a second and replied, “Well, when we are learning in Spanish I just feel that my brain needs to work twice as hard… it is hard to explain, but I just feel like I am working really, really hard.” I asked a few more questions and our conversation ended.

However, I could not stop thinking about the way she felt and how she described her ‘brain’ being in overdrive. Honestly — I loved it. If learning in two languages means her brain is working harder than it would just learning in one, then I have confirmed once again that dual-language is the way to go. Which takes me to my next couple of questions:

Have you thought for a moment what it is like to learn in a two-way immersion program?

Has your child shared with you how she/he feels about learning in this type of environment?

I would love to hear from parents/guardians/other family members about this. I am really curious about your experiences and conversations with your child.

Much love,

Kelly

{Photo by departmentofed}

As always, I would love to hear from you and read your comments/suggestions.

Remember these?

Now…the BIG reveal:

I am working on a more detailed description of my classroom on my blog. If you are interested in learning more about it, check out my page at Learning In Two Languages .

Much love,

Kelly

I could not be any happier to join the SpanglishBaby community. Actually I am ecstatic to share my new journey with all of you. My name is Kelly Serrano. I was born and raised in Ecuador, South America and moved to the United States when I was 18 years old. I am also a classroom teacher. While I have taught in the general education classroom setting for seven years including 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade, this year I made a big move as I will be teaching 4^th grade at a Dual Language Immersion School.

Teaching has taken me many places and with it I have explored unknown territories. This time the ‘territory’ will be the Dual Language Classroom. As soon as I knew that I would be in a bilingual classroom, I started to gather information and materials to better prepare for the upcoming school year. Unfortunately, I did not find many reliable resources. They were either written in Spanish with an awful translation or were too high of a reading level. The solution? If I wanted high quality materials, I had to create them.

That is how my blog got started. I wanted to reach, talk, and share with other teachers involved in the dual language setting. I was sure I was not the only one out there trying to better reach students and their families. My weekly contributions to La Maestra’s Corner will offer readers an insider look at the bilingual classroom. I will cover topics ranging from educational strategies with proven success in the dual language classroom, what teachers do to make bilingual content come to life, what it is really like to be a student in a two-way immersion classroom, to answering parents’ questions/concerns about this schooling method.

As a lifelong learner, I always welcome your suggestions/questions/comments/concerns. Again, I am excited and honored to be part of this amazing community.

Much love,

Kelly

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!

Recently my husband and I decided to go through the process of trying to get our daughter enrolled in a prestigious and private dual language school in our city. I honestly did not imagine having to go through what seems like a rigorous process this early on in her academic trajectory. She is almost three, which means she qualifies for the primary school grade classrooms. We learned that there were a limited of spots (~30) with over 125 applicants! We also learned that there are very few, if any, high quality three-year-old academic programs in town, making those ~30 spots highly competitive.

We jumped through all the hoops: filled out the extensive application, had my daughters current teacher fill out an evaluation form about her strengths and challenges, attended an information session, allowed for our daughter to be observed by teachers at the school, and lastly went through an hour long interview with the director of the school. By the time we were scheduled for the final step of the process, the parent interview, we started to question if we were making the right decision (not just financially) and were forced to reflect on whether or not we would fit in well with the current school community.

As I mentioned earlier, I began to wonder if this community was the right fit for us, but really I was more concerned with whether or not it was a right fit for me. When we attended the information session, I realized that it was the first time in my life that I had ever stepped foot in such a prestigious school. The second-generation immigrant of working class parents part of me felt completely out of place. My husband, having grown up abroad for most of his schooling years, attended private schools very similar to the one we were trying to get our daughter into. Not only did I attend public school for the majority of my schooling years, which was all taught in English; I also grew up in a community where Spanish and English flowed back and forth seamlessly. Interestingly, during the interview we were asked the following question:

Interviewer: Which language, Spanish or English, would you prefer to speak in?

Me: (hesitating a little): We prefer to speak in both languages.

Interviewer: Okay. Yes, that actually works well for me because there are parts of the interview where Spanish is more appropriate than English.

When asked to choose a language to speak in I simply could not. Both Spanish and English are part of my linguistic repertoire and they do not reside in separate spaces.  Being concerned about whether or not I would fit in with the school community I decided that I would be my self as much as anyone can in formal interview settings. Hesitantly, I responded that we preferred to use both languages. The interviewers response was a breathe of fresh air. I was starting to wonder if we were trying to enroll our daughter in a school where code switching may not be seen as a valuable linguistic tool, but if the director was willing to do it, then I can only assume that it will be welcomed.

In an earlier scenario, when we dropped off our daughter for her observation I noticed that we were the only parents speaking in Spanish to each other and to our daughter. I also noticed that we were the only Latinos (or in my case, the only Chicana). On top of the class diversity the school needs, a part of me hoped that we could contribute to the linguistic and ethnic diversity that seems to be missing.

A week later we found out we were wait-listed. The news wasn’t too surprising considering the number of applicants and the number of spots available, but at the same time one cannot help but wonder if that was the only reason. We are still hopeful. In a month we find out if there is a spot for the incoming school year.  Ay, veremos…

As a researcher of dual language programs, I have to say that there is definitely a trend occurring. The general public is starting to notice the importance and value in a multilingual education. Not only are public, charter, and private dual language schools emerging nation wide, the spots to get into them are extremely competitive. Parents are entering raffles, others are willing to pay the hefty price tag for the opportunity to learn in two languages. For my family, paying the price means compromising other aspects of our life for an investment in an education that is multilingual, global, inquiry-based, and student centered which should be the standard at every school.

Have you tried enrolling your son/daughter in a prestigious and private foreign language school? If so, what was the experience like?

{Photo by barnabywasson}

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

Ask my mother-in-law about U.S. Geography and she throws her hands up in defeat. In her elementary school, geography was taught in the third grade — the year she arrived from Cuba. Instead of memorizing state capitals, she was busy learning a new language, culture and city.

Academically, third grade was a bust.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that story recently as I prepare to send my youngest to a preschool. He’s a rambunctious child whose English vocabulary is limited to the Scooby Doo theme song. (And ‘shut-up,’ but nobody is claiming that one!)

The one time we left him with someone other than our regular babysitter — while on vacation in Georgia — he wailed. When we returned two hours later, we could still hear his screams from beyond the door. “He was trying to tell us something, but we couldn’t understand what he was saying,” the nice young woman, who spoke only English, said.

(Me: #motheroftheyear #winning)

I am hoping his first day at school won’t be a repeat.

Intellectually, I know kids are resilient, and pick up languages quickly. I am definitely not worried about my son falling behind on his colors and letters. Emotionally, though, I can’t help but wonder how he’ll feel in those first months at school as he battles to understand and be understood.

He is a spitfire who won’t be ignored. I don’t want trying to communicate to feel like screaming into a wind tunnel.

So I called my friend, Dr. Lisa Lopez, seeking guidance on how to best prepare him (and myself) for the weeks and months to come. Lisa, a professor at the University of South Florida, specializes in dual language learning.

Here’s her advice for kids entering a classroom dominated by a language not their own:

1) Make sure your child knows a few basic words in English:  Teaching him words like “hi” and “bathroom” can help ease the transition, Lisa said. Kids in my son’s shoes go through four stages when they are in this position. First, they try to use their native language. When that doesn’t work, they enter a silent stage, as they try to assess the environment. At this point, they may act out in frustration because they can’t properly communicate, she said. It’s important to keep an open dialogue with the teacher to find the root cause of any behavior issues. Having an understanding of a few words will act as a bridge. Eventually, the students will move to mastering key phrases and then speaking more completely in the new language – which could take anywhere from a few months to a year, she said.

2) Keep pushing Spanish: Teach the few basic words, then leave the English to the school, Lisa said. At a young age, kids have a capacity for a limited number of words (for a 2-year-old, it’s 50 to 100.) The problem is, they may start increasing their English vocabulary at the expense of Spanish. To be truly bilingual, the child will need an equal input of both languages.

3) Emphasize the value of the home language: This, unfortunately, is where we have the most trouble — in  demonstrating why speaking Spanish is so important. Lisa said that kids need to know it’s useful to their lives, which you can do by  keeping up with Spanish-speaking family members, traveling, attending school or camp in Spanish — so that the value of the language is reinforced. “If kids are seeing that the language isn’t valued in the community, it’s going to be more fuel for the fire to not speak the language. That’s the most important piece.”

Clearly I have my homework to do.

{Photo via US Department of Education}

I was one of those very lucky kids who attended a dual language immersion school. Although I moved around a lot as a child — living in 5 countries in 3 continents by the time I was 14 — I spent five solid years at my mother’s alma mater back in Peru and I was instructed mostly in English from 4th to 8th grade.

As far as I remember, I only had a handful of courses, including Historia and Geografía del Perú, in Spanish. The rest of my school days were spent immersed in English in a Spanish-speaking country. By the time I entered 5th grade, my private school required all its students to take up a third language. I chose French, but I could’ve chosen Italian or German just as easily.

So, I thought it very strange when I moved to the States and found out that, although offered, I didn’t really have to take a “foreign language,” until I got to high school. And then, I only needed two years of this foreign language in order to graduate. In reality, since I already spoke a foreign language — as in my native Spanish — I could’ve very well taken a test and I could’ve been exempted from this requirement.

But because I’d been taking French since 5th grade — albeit only a couple of times a week — I signed up for it as one of my electives when I entered my neighborhood’s junior high school in Miami, and I continued taking it until my junior year in high school. I eventually picked it up again as a sophomore at the University of Florida (in fact, you can almost say college French is the reason why Ana and I are friends today). Since then, I’ve taken courses at the Alliance Française on and off for the last 15 years.

All this to prove that I’m obviously a huge lover of languages and to confess that if I had the money, I would spend the rest of my life traveling and learning other languages. And so, it pains me to no end to read articles like the one from Forbes Ana sent me earlier this morning. Titled “America’s Foreign Language Deficit,” and written by two prominent Cornell University professors, the article exposes the sad state of affairs this nation is facing in terms of teaching its students foreign languages.

While I love to think that more and more people are embracing bilingualism in this country, the reality when it comes to foreign language offerings available to our students is pretty bleak. Check out some of these discouraging figures from the Forbes article :

• The percentage of public and private elementary schools offering foreign language instruction decreased from 31 to 25 percent from 1997 to 2008.
• Instruction in public elementary schools dropped from 24 percent to 15 percent, with rural districts hit the hardest.
• The percentage of all middle schools offering foreign language instruction decreased from 75 to 58 percent.
• About 25 percent of elementary schools and 30 percent of middle schools report a shortage of qualified foreign language teachers.
• In 2009-2010, only 50.7 percent of higher education institutions required foreign language study for a baccalaureate, down from 67.5 percent in 1994-1995. And many colleges and universities have reduced or eliminated instructional offerings in “less popular” languages.

Speaking more than one language is an invaluable gift, but in a highly connected world like the one we live in today, it’s become more of an indispensable skill.

As fierce proponents and supporters of bilingualism, Ana and I want to make sure that our voices — and that of all the other parents who believe bilingual is better — are heard loud and clear by anyone and everyone who has a say in changing the discouraging numbers above. We’re in the process of trying to figure out how to do that, and we promise to let you know when we do. In the meantime, I leave you with this call to action by the authors of the Forbes’ article:

We ask parents to urge their children to attain proficiency in a foreign language, whether or not schools require them to do so; PTAs to lobby school boards; faculty members and deans in colleges and universities to re-visit foreign language requirements; readers of Forbes to write to their elected representatives.

{Photo via Fiona Bradley}

{Photo by: cdsessums}

I lived in Miami for almost 19 years before moving to Denver five years ago. While I had heard of several bilingual immersion schools in the area, Coral Way K-8 Center was not one of them. I guess some stuff only becomes important once you become a mom.

It turns out Coral Way is the oldest bilingual immersion school in the country, or so I was recently told by NPR’s education correspondent Claudio Sanchez, whose report about the school airs today. Sanchez’ story is part of a special series titled: Two Languages, Many Voices, which has been looking at what it’s like to be a bilingual and bicultural Latino.

I must say that if there’s one thing I miss about Miami is that it’s a truly bicultural and bilingual city. It may sound crazy, but it’s virtually impossible to go places and not be surrounded by Spanish and the Latino culture all the time: from the movie theaters to government offices. (I’ve always believed this is the reason why the culture shock wasn’t as strong when I arrived there from Peru as a teenager.)

And Sanchez wastes no time letting the listener get a feel for that. Soon after his story starts, you can clearly hear the principal of Coral Way go seamlessly from Spanish to English as she’s talking to her students.

Sanchez goes on to talk to a father whose family is monolingual, but whose child is in the bilingual immersion program. His reasoning is simple: academic enrichment. To him, the importance of Spanish is right up there with reading and math. If only more parents could think that way…

The report also includes the story of a bilingual and bicultural family whose three children attend Coral Way. Sanchez visits with them and one of the highlights of the interview is when he asks the three children how they see themselves. Their answers are the perfect example of what it’s like to grow up bilingual and bicultural in the United States today.

I had a chance to speak to Sanchez at length about this story in particular and the topic of bilingual education in general and I’ll be brining you more of that very soon.

Once you listen to the story, we’d love to hear what you thought of it. Did you know about Coral Way? Do you have anything similar in your area?