A demographic surge of young Latinos is making their way through school, and by the time they’re out of college, the year will be 2030. In this first installment of our year-long series, Maria Hinojosa talks to teacher Elizabeth Bonitz about how dual language programs have become more popular in her town of Siler City, North Carolina.
Photo courtesy of Flickr
I enjoyed this episode very much; however, I don’t think Maria’s definition of Dual Language is accurate. Maria defined it as a program where about half the students are dominant in one language and the other half in another language. The Dual Language programs I am familiar with split instruction time between 2 languages regardless of the dominant languages of the students. So there could be a dual language immersion program where all the students are English dominant but still receive half of the instruction in Spanish and the other half in English.
Rhett,
Dual language program models vary across schools and districts. The dual language program that Maria is referring to is the two-way dual language, while the one you mentioned is the one-way program. Both are dual language, but they differ in the type of student population they include. One-way dual language programs in which students are English dominant serves mostly as a form of foreign language education. And those in which all students are say, Spanish speakers, serve as heritage-language programs aiming to support language maintenance. A two-way dual language program serves as both.
Listening to this story, my heart filled with pride for Siler City Elementary School and our community. We are so lucky to have a school filled with true visionaries, like Eliziabeth Bonitz, who see a way to make our world better by lifting up all our children together. We are one of the lucky families that transferred into SCE back in 2009 when our 4th grader started kindergarten. Our first grader is now in her second year as a dual language student. Both of our children love their school and we feel enriched in ways that we never imagined by being members of this community. Forward together, not one step back!
During my last semester in College I learned about dual language programs and as a mother and born educator I was blown away by what a great idea it was. Not only for personal linguistic and cultural reasons but also for neurological and economic reasons as well. Once I received my teaching degree my husband and I moved from Long Island New York to North Carolina mostly because there was a dual immersion program starting near relatives that very year and thus had not required a lottery to enroll. Our son is now in the 4th grade and it fills me up with such joy to see him have more access and information and thus deeper understanding and interest in our heritage. I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American woman but I do regret all the years I did not have a more personally relevant and relate able education. ALL our students benefit greatly from this program not just those of Hispanics heritage the ones beginning to learn Spanish are most certainly double challenged the first year however I can honestly say some of the best Spanish spoken conversations I have had with my sons classmates at lunch have been with children of non Spanish speaking families. Cant wait for our second son to start Kindergarten next year luckily he wont have to go through the lottery that now has needed to be implemented due to the programs popularity.
During my last semester in College I learned about dual language programs and as a mother and born educator I was blown away by what a great idea it was. Not only for personal linguistic and cultural reasons but also for neurological and economic reasons as well. Once I received my teaching degree my husband and I moved from Long Island New York to North Carolina mostly because there was a dual immersion program starting near relatives that very year and thus had not required a lottery to enroll. Our son is now in the 4th grade and it fills me up with such joy to see him have more access and information and thus deeper understanding and interest in our heritage. I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American woman but I do regret all the years I did not have a more personally relevant and relate able education. ALL our students benefit greatly from this program not just those of Hispanics heritage the ones beginning to learn Spanish are most certainly double challenged the first year however I can honestly say some of the best Spanish spoken conversations I have had with my sons classmates at lunch have been with children of non Spanish speaking families. Cant wait for our second son to start Kindergarten next year luckily he wont have to go through the lottery that now has needed to be implemented due to the programs popularity.