I came across this article yesterday and was somewhat floored by what I read. It is about a woman in the Dallas area who was seriously mad that her child's elementary school was forcing her to learn Spanish. Her arguement was along the lines of "They're the illegals! Let them learn English!!"
I find this interesting because I have already been looking into KatyISD to see if they offer Spanish classes to Grade School children because I very badly want my kids to learn Spanish and be conversational if not fluent. It is so much easier for them to learn a foreign language at that age as opposed to high school. I found out they are opening a dual-immersion elementary in Katy where the students will be half native Spanish speakers and half English and thier lessons will be taught in both languages... I am pumped about it!! I also found mommy and me classes in Katy where your child and you can start learning Spanish together as soon as they are "verbal" which means about a year and a half old. Anyway, if you want to read this very short article about this woman, click here -> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329669,00.html I want to see how much practical use her child gets out of French living in Texas :P
6 years ago
6 comments:
hey abs! i thought you would find this interesting as well -- (preface - my parents live in cinco ranch and have had two children in kisd) did you know that KISD is now allowing ALL childrens grades to be accessed over the web by their parents, which includes all quizzes, tests, projects, etc? crazy, isn't it? anyways, just passing info along. have a great weekend!
I have very mixed feelings regarding spanish in schools. on one note, it is much easier for kids to learn a new language at a young age and in Texas it does help. However, my nephew used to attend Sundown in Katy and I had a problem with his school. I attended a choir program that was followed by a PTA meeting. During this meeting, I discovered that there were spanish speaking classes and english speaking classes for 1st grade. I could not believe it. I know they have ESL and I feel like the students at age 6 should know how to speak English in America. I was shocked, and learned they don't use Engligh at all in the Spanish speaking classes. They don't even send the kids to ESL for a short period of the day. That made me so upset, because I feel like since we are in America they should learn how to speak our language. The longer you wait to teach your kids English, it will hinder them later on down the road. Like I said, I have mixed feelings.
Here's the real deal on bilingual education (if the child's native language is Spanish):
If Spanish is the child's first language, then they can be in a bilingual class until 4th grade (maybe 5th?). Pre-K and K are mostly Spanish, with 30 minutes of English required each day. The goal for that age is conversational English ("Hello. My name is..., etc.) Each year the ESL block is increased until the child is exited from the program, either when they're ready or at the end of 4th grade. Legally each grade is required to have a certain amount of the day in English. Whether the teacher actually does it is like asking whether a teacher actually teaches anything- you hope so, but it depends on the teacher and accountablity of the school.
There is also an option called dual language. In dual language you have both native english and native spanish speakers. It's about half and half as far as the day goes.
My 2 cents... if done properly they're both great and serve their purposes. I totally want my kids to learn to speak both english and spanish. Unfortunetely, more often than not the programs are not done correctly. So go to a good school, get involved in class, and TALK TALK TALK to your child's teacher.
End of novel/soapbox.
Thanks Jen! I am glad to know that they are by law required to do both, but like you said, you never know.
Abby, I know there are some mothers-day-out programs in katy that offer to teach your kids spanish. I thought about putting Mason in the program when he was older, before we knew we were going to move.
Hmmmmm...interesting. This is exactly what my ESL certification class was debating on Thursday.
There are many wonderful aspects of a dual-immersion program, yet some serious drawbacks as well. And research on dual-immersion programs and long-term academic achievement is a mixed bag. However, the drawbacks are usually more characteristic of NES (non-English speakers). The bottom line is if a child is not strong in his "first" (native) language, then he will most likely struggle in the acquisition of a second language and end up without a mastery of either language. That is the rationale behind much of the bilingual/ESL education: get the child caught up in his native language before mainstreaming him in English-only classes.
I'm sure you will be an on-top-of-it parent and your child would be reading BEFORE kindergarten. With a firm grasp of English first, your child would probably not encounter those difficulties.
I don't know how the Katy ISD runs their dual-immersion program, but in many programs, students initially spend 90 percent of their day learning in Spanish. By fifth grade, instruction is half in English and half in Spanish. Sometimes, native-English speakers often face initial setbacks in learning math, but with enough parent support (aka Spanish/homework help!) can "catch up" with and even surpass their non-dual immersion peers by the end of elementary.
Hope this wasn't confusing? At least you have some time to explore all of the options!!
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