In 1955, in the vernacular of the playground, the word “see” ended every sentence, much like “you know” does today.
As a newly arrived immigrant child whose knowledge of the English language consisted of being able to count to 100, “see” sounded to me just like the Spanish word for yes which is “si.” “How agreeable, my new American friends,” I thought. “They say yes to everything.”
It did not take long for my misunderstanding to get me in trouble. Marbles was the game we played during our lunch time, and I thought one of my agreeable friends was OK with my taking all his marbles. “Those are my marbles, see” is what my friend had said, not “Yes, those are your marbles.”
It only took me a couple of additional months to learn enough English so as not to repeat my mistake. It took me much longer to understand what was going on in my classes and even longer to grasp the nuances of the higher-order cognitive processes that my teachers were attempting to convey.
A Comforting Bridge
My first assignment as a 6th-grade teacher in a public school in New York City allowed me to make good use of my bilingual skills. Most of my students were, like me years earlier, newly arrived immigrants to the United States. I loved how their faces lit up with beautiful smiles when I greeted them in Spanish. “Habla Español,” they would say excitedly. “You speak Spanish.”
My ability to communicate with them was a comforting bridge to that point when they would be able to communicate in and understand English. Even at that point, I would occasionally lapse into Spanish when I saw they were not grasping a fundamental concept. My experience with my students sold me on the value of bilingual education and along, with a number of my colleagues, we founded the New York State Association for Bilingual Education. I was proud to have been named the organization’s first president.
As an educator, I always have believed you teach best when you build on the knowledge base the student already possesses. If a student speaks Spanish and little English, then it makes sense to use Spanish as the language of instruction while English is being mastered. In fact, learning a second language is not difficult for children, and most will do it quickly. Within a matter of months of immigrating to New York, I became the official interpreter for my family, a role that lasted for many years as my parents struggled to learn English.
I was surprised when the “English only” movement gained momentum in the United States. How ironic that a country that encourages the learning of a second language at the secondary level would suppress the maintenance of that second language for kids already fluent in the language. “You can’t speak Spanish now, son, but we’ll teach it to you when you get to high school.”
No one will deny that fluency and being fully literate in English are an absolute necessity if you live in this country. At the same time, we can’t thump our chests about the world being flat and the importance of a global economy yet downplay the merits of bilingualism.
Looking at the persistent achievement gap that prevails in spite of No Child Left Behind, we see that English language learners make up an unhealthy portion of the children being left behind. It is commendable that the law no longer allows this category of student to be swept in with the performance of all other students so their poor achievement is masked by the average performance of the group. It is for that reason that an organization like La Raza, arguably the largest Hispanic advocacy group in the country, supports NCLB. Concerned that changes in the law might lead to once again masking the needs of ELL students, La Raza supports the current policy of testing ELL students in English even though they may not be fluent in the language.
Superintendents generally see the practice as unfair because it is not testing knowledge of the content being tested, only knowledge of the language used to test. We abhor setting a child up for failure because it starts a pattern of negative experiences for children who would best thrive with early successes.
A Local Option
Many factors influence the quality of a bilingual program. Trained bilingual teachers are hard to come by and quality materials are still scarce. Nevertheless, we can’t ignore the fact a child will feel welcome in a school environment that acknowledges the youngster’s native language and uses it as the tool to continue the acquisition of knowledge while the necessary English skills are being developed.
We also recognize it is impossible to offer bilingual programs to accommodate the variety of languages that are spoken in our schools. It is possible, however, to offer bilingual programs where large concentrations of students who speak a language make it feasible to do so.
Bilingual education should not be a mandate, but at the same time, it should not be prohibited. Local school systems should have the ability to decide what program will best meet the needs of their students. As we attack the persistent achievement gap that exists in our schools, we should have every tool available to combat it. Bilingual programs should be an option. But that’s just me talking. And, in my case, I can do it in two languages.
Daniel Domenech is AASA executive director. E-mail: ddomenech@aasa.org