Dual Language Informative Session: Creating Awareness

Principal Internship

Ferdinand Herff Elementary School

Lizardo Moreno

Spring 2012

Dual Language 1

Introduction

! The dual language program at Herff Elementary has been in existence for about

12 years. Its is one of three San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) schools

that implements the program. It is an enrichment program for students who are English

language dominant to acquire Spanish as a second language. It is also a great program

for Spanish language dominant students to acquire the English language more quickly.

! Unfortunately, unlike the internal charters at Bonham Academy and Storm

Academy that are able to recruit students that reside anywhere in San Antonio, Herff is

limited to recruiting students within their school boundaries. Its unfortunate because

much of the community lives in poverty as Herff is a Title I school. This means that

many although many of the parents are hardworking and eager to succeed, they lack

education about the benefits of multi-language acquisition. Many parents do not value

the Spanish language and prefer for their students to learn English only, thus they donʼt

allow their children to participate in Dual Language. Henceforth, each year the principal

has to make the hard decision to axe the program if it lacks enrollment.

! As a result, each year the Dual Language teachers take on the task of promoting

the program by word of mouth and inviting parents of Pre-kindergarten students to

informative sessions about the Dual Language program. The hope is that parents will

find value in their children learning two languages. Even though, we send out flyers and

put up posters about the upcoming sessions, few parents show up to the session. That

is why this year, I hoped to attract more interest by placing ads about the session in the

classifieds, craigslist, and in the libraries. Would it be enough to get parents to the

session so that they would in turn enroll their children in the program?

Dual Language 2

Literature Review

! Thomas and Collier (2009) show that Dual Language programs across the

country help to close achievement gaps. The language programs they studied were not

limited to English/Spanish, but included Chinese/English, and French/English. Their

longitudinal study showed that pull-out programs were the least successful in helping

students acquire a second language. As a matter-of-fact, it became a great predictor

that those students would have the most difficulty and in turn, many would become

drop-outs. By contrast, students in Dual Language programs outscored even the

English dominant students on standardized assessments. Thomas and Collierʼs

research proves that Dual Language programs are key to second language acquisition

and are strong predictors of student achievement at high academic levels.

! Garcia-Martin (2011), aligned the three Dual Language campuses in SAISD so

that they all follow a 90/10 model. This model was chosen because Krashenʼs 1982

theory suggest that the acquisition of a second language is most successful when the

conditions are similar to those of first language. That is the focus should be on meaning,

not on form and it should be done in an anxiety-free environment. If SAISD was going to

be successful at developing English and Spanish proficiency they had to acknowledge

that it takes 5 - 7 years for language to develop (Collier, 1987). Therefore, it became

important to give more Spanish instruction in primary elementary grades (K - 2), and

gradually decrease it so that students received more English in upper elementary. By

fifth grade, students in the Dual Language program would receive 50 percent of the

instruction in English and 50 percent of the instruction in Spanish.

Dual Language 3

! Parents rave of how successful their children are at school and at home. Mrs. A.

Combe (personal communication, February 28, 2012) testified how her 5th and 4th

grade children are able to communicate in Spanish and English. Mrs. Combe states

that her sons are now able to communicate with their Spanish speaking grandparents

whereas their cousins, who were brought up in mainstream classrooms, are unable to.

Mrs. J. Benitez (personal communication, April 19, 2012) is proud of her third grade

granddaughterʼs ability to communicate with her, and acknowledges that it couldnʼt have

been possible without the Dual Language Program. Mrs. Benitez reflects that Julianaʼs

older siblings, who were not in Dual language have an extremely difficult time

communicating with her, due to their lack of Spanish language skills.

! Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with that bilingualism is synonymous with

success. Schneider (2009) suggest that many immigrant parents believe that the only

way to achieve in America is by putting off their old ways and learn English only.

Therefore, they deny their children bilingual education and place them in mainstream

English classroom. If these parents truly want what is best for their child, they must

acknowledge Thomas and Collier (2009) longitudinal study which show that ESL

population of students will only reach the 35th percentile rank among their peers in

elementary and middle school; furthermore, that lack of success only reaches the 24th

percentile for students in high school.

! As you can see, a Dual Language program not only closes the academic gap for

minority students but also bridges language barriers among families; resulting in

stronger families and communities.

Dual Language 4

Methods

! Promotional materials that were created included posters, half-page flyers, post

cards, full page flyer, and classified ads. These promotional materials all included photo

of children from different ethnicities. The promotional slogan was “Learn Spanish.” All

promotional materials also included the location of the meeting with the time and date.

The classified ads were posted every other day on Craigslist for a period of two weeks.

The Univision ad was posted daily for two weeks prior to the informative session, and

the La Prensa ad was posted a week prior to the informative session. All 78 pre-

kindergarten students were given flyers two weeks prior to the session and then again a

week prior to the session. Pre-kindergarten teachers promoted the meeting to parents

when they would drop-off their children. Posters of the meeting were placed at the drop-

off location of the pre-kindergarten students and at the school entrance. Postcards of

the information sessions were placed at the McCreeles Branch Library, the Mission

Library, the Denver Heights community center, and the James A. Bode community

center. The school secretary was given a call log to track any calls that came in asking

about the informative session.

! The amount of parents who attended this session were compared to the amount

parents that attended last year.

Dual Language 5

Results

! On the day of the informative session only seven parents attended. When

compared to previous year data, the amount of participation by parents was not much

different. At the time of the publication of this data, the second informative session had

not yet been conducted, thus data is pending. Beside the presentation, their was a

raffle, and translation services were provided as necessary.

Session 1 Session 2

0

1.75

3.5

5.25

7

2011 2012

Parti

cipa

nts

Dual Language 6

Conclusions/ Recommendations

! The poor turn out of parents to the informative session suggest that many

parents in the community donʼt place much value on bilingualism, or that we did not

successfully tap into the community values. Somehow we need to place a spin on the

program that will motivate parents to seek out this program. The presentation needs to

be refocused because currently it promotes how being bilingual is important for children

to go to college. Not all families in this community feel that their children could or

should go to college. Bringing the presentation down a notch may spark interest, if it

related how bilingualism helps students do better in middle school, or helps them pass

their STAAR test.

! Because no new interest was sparked with classified ads or postcards in the

community, then resources should not used via these channels. Instead monies and

effort should be spent on bringing the session into the community, at a parentʼs home

for example. By having the host invite their friends, it would be possible to get a group of

parents to sign on. These parents would also help in the promotion of the meeting. In

addition it may open the doors for parents of students who are not in Pre-k, but will

enroll in Kindergarten in the upcoming school year.

! Promoting the session as an enrollment party could lead to higher attendance at

the session. Perhaps parents would be more motivated to attend if the session was

promoted as a bar-b-q. and bigger door prizes, such as HEB/Walmart/McDonaldʼs/

Movie gift cards, were given.

! It may also help if parents RSVPʼd, that way not only would presenters know how

much food and prizes to prepare, but it would commit parents to attend.

Dual Language 7

References

Collier, V.P. (1987). Age and Rate of Acquisition of Second Language for Academic Purposes.TESOL Quarterly, 21, 617-641.

Collier, V.P. & Thomas, W.P. (2009). Educating English Language Learners for a Transformed World. Fuente Press. Albuquerque, NM.

Garcia-Martin, L. (2011). “Two-way Immersion Task Force Meeting” Presented at Herff E.S.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.

Schneider, K. (2009). “Speaking in Tongues.” Patchwork Productions.

Dual Language 8