Sunday, May 19, 2013


My family and I are just coming back from my daughters’ Multicultural Festival at their preschool.  Both of them are attending Puerta Abierta (Open Door) and both of them danced in the festival. It was a blast! We were first hand witnesses and participants of a celebration of life by a community of happy, engaged committed individuals supporting an educational approach. Puerta Abierta is a successful, popular, notorious Bilingual- Spanish immersion preschool in Illinois. I choose Puerta Abierta preschool for my observations for this course because of their prominent and well known Bilingual Spanish Immersion program. In this type of program you try to create a balanced class consisting of half of students that speak the dominant language, in this case English, and half of students that speak a minority language, in this case Spanish. Then, you immerse the English-dominant students into the second language’s instruction and gradually transition them into the dominant language. The outcomes of using this approach have been phenomenal, there are scores of research based studies pointing to the tremendous benefits of this approach on all students. Furthermore, I selected Puerta Abierta because my wife enrolled our two youngest daughters in their program, she speaks wonders of it, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes. According to the scholar research on programs’ effectiveness, this approach has proven to be the most effective in educating second language learners, especially the Hispanics in the U.S., which is the focus of my doctoral studies. I wanted to see it first hand, in practice, and it entirely exceeded my expectations.

It is essential to note that the ways on which children exhibit development in specific domains such as physical, cognitive and social emotional are similar to the ones observed in other equally effective programs: toddlers are actively exploring with language and the environment; they exhibit separation anxiety; their dramatic play is incipient...etc.  Even the classroom environment and the physical arrangement is very similar. What really stands out is the use of language in the classroom. This was one of the questions during the interviews to the teachers: What language do you use for instruction and why? This was the answer: “Ninety percent of the time we use Spanish and ten percent English. The purpose of the massive use of Spanish is to teach a second language, in context, to the English speaking students and to enrich and expand the language of the Spanish speaking students. We use English ten percent of the time to ensure understanding and to clarify some linguistic misunderstandings.” In the toddlers’ classroom, half of the English speaking students communicate with the teachers in Spanish and the rest in English but the teachers responded in Spanish most of the time. All the teachers speak both languages fluently. In the preschool classroom most of the students communicate with the teachers in Spanish which expresses high levels of bilingualism by the second year in the program.

The Puerta Abierta program by itself is remarkable, long waiting lists, hundreds of bilingual students and 17 successful years can attest for it. I successfully used a similar approach in my Bilingual Transitional Kindergarten classroom for years. The difference was the ratio of language use. Due to the transitional nature of the program, I used 65% Spanish and 35% English and by the end of the school year most students were reading in both languages. This year the system mandated the implementation of an English immersion program for all English Language learners, according to them, to meet the linguistic demands of the new assessments, and the results have been disappointing qualitative and quantitative.

Generally speaking, observing this program was absolutely useful in enhancing my understanding related to child development in the early years for each age group, but it was particularly useful in enhancing my understanding of the benefits of this approach in the education of all children. After all, maybe the benefits of a bilingual education is the reason affluent people pay large sums so their children can learn another language.

I would like to bring to your attention some of the most significant insights gained as a result of my experience with Puerta Abierta.

1)       The ways on which children in a Bilingual Program exhibit development in specific domains such as physical, cognitive and social emotional are similar to the ones observed in equally effective monolingual programs.

2)      In Bilingual immersion programs all students feel proud of their use of language. English dominant children are proud of showing that they speak another language and Hispanic student feel proud and empowered because their language is the mean of instruction and is valued in the school.

3)      This program works. I know that plenty of the children graduated from this preschool continue their studies in bilingual schools and become fluent bilingual children. My 4 year old daughter is fluently bilingual from her first year in Puerta Abierta. My wife and I purposefully only spoke to her in Spanish the first three years of her life, we knew that she was going to learn English in school. After one year in Puerta Abierta she became fluent in English just by interacting with the English dominant children at Puerta.
As a consequence of these observation I am planning to advocate for the re-integration and implementation of a Bilingual program in our school. I hope I was able to share new insights about Bilingual education to you through this assignment. Thanks for reading it! Comments/questions are welcome!

Sunday, April 14, 2013


As you may know, the focus of my doctoral research is on finding and implementing effective educational practices for the Hispanic student population in order to alleviate the tremendous educational gap that exist in this student population.

I am a strong advocate for Bilingual education. I currently hold a Master’s Degree and a National Board Certification in Early Childhood and Bilingual education. Enormous amount of research attest for the benefits of Bilingual education, Bilingualism and Multilingualism in cognitive development for all the students. There are plenty of Meta studies and literature reviews that point to the effectiveness of this approach in educating these students. For further research, please refer to the References section at the end of this post.

Nevertheless, regardless of the massive research many districts are dismantling their Bilingual education programs to implement immersion programs. I taught Bilingual Education for 15 years and I can corroborate the benefits of this approach in educating my students. Unfortunately, last year the administration decided to close the Bilingual classrooms and implement English Immersion programs for all students. It has been a difficult year for a large number of students. The detrimental effects of using this approach can be measured using standard forms of assessment for bilingual students. It is sad that the most affected children were those children in most need.

I just had a conversation about the subject and the differences on both approaches with the Principal of one of the schools that changed their approach. She understands the benefits of bilingualism, she is bilingual herself and was hired to the position because she was bilingual, but she sustains that this is a trend implemented by the administration and there is not much she can do. She sustains that this is a national trend and will be difficult to change.

 I understand that my approach can be bias due to my cultural background, and for the purpose of bringing some objectivity to my research I have decided to explore websites and/or blogs that advocate for English Immersion programs. I spent a couple of hours trying to find scholarly sites that can through some light about the subject. I couldn’t find much but I found a website named ProEnglish.org which is upheld by an organization that defends the English Immersion Approach. Here is their own definition and agenda:

“ ProEnglish is the nation's leading advocate of official English. We work through the courts and in the court of public opinion to defend English's historic role as America's common, unifying language, and to persuade lawmakers to adopt English as the official language at all levels of government.”
AGENDA FOR ACTION
Adopting laws or constitutional amendments declaring English the official language of the United States, and of individual states.
Defending the right of individual states to make English the official language of government operations.
Ending bilingual education, in favor of English language immersion programs in public
schools.
Repealing federal mandates for the translation of government documents and voting ballots into languages other than English.
Opposing the admission of territories as states unless they have adopted English as their official language.

In my opinion, it seems to be a politically oriented website and Blog. The resources provided by their website on the subject are very limited in number and scope. I am planning to continue with this literature research but:

 I was wondering if you have any suggestions about scholar research-based resources that can help me to understand the academic benefits of using the English Immersion educational Approach with the Hispanic student population?

Your input will be greatly appreciate it!  Thanks!

PS. If you are interested in exploring their website and/or Blog you can find them in the links below.




Resources

Ball, J. (2010). Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds: Mother 
            tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in early childhood and early primary  
            school years. Early Childhood Development Intercultural Partnerships, University of Victoria.

On behave of the UNESCO’s department of education Jessica Ball conducted this literature review on international research papers that discuss effective practices on bilingual or multilingual education for children starting in early childhood. The purpose of this Meta study was to develop clear guidelines and principles for language policy in early education.   

Chambers, B., Cheung, A., Slavin, R. E., Smith, D., & Laurenzano, M. (2010).Effective early
 childhood education programs: A systematic review. Best Evidence Encyclopedia.

The present report reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of various preschool/nursery programs for young children who are at risk of school failure due to poverty.  It reviews the research on the outcomes of early childhood programs provided in a group setting for all children, applying consistent methodological standards to the research. 
Garcia, E., & Jensen, B. (2007). Language development and early education of young Hispanic 
children in the United States. Tempe, AZ: National Task Force on Early Childhood 
Education for Hispanics

This paper provides a synthesis of empirical work that spans several decades and conceptual frameworks associated with the linguistic development and the early education of young Hispanic children in the United States. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and empirical work associated with educational concerns—including teacher competencies, instructional strategies, curricular content, programs, and related policy. 

Kagan, S. L. (2009). American early childhood education: Preventing or perpetuating inequity?   Retrieved from http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/983.Kagan_Final.pdf
This paper is an examination of multiple inequities and their effects on American early childhood education. It suggests that inequity permeates early childhood education, seriously restricting who has access to services, the quality and competency of those who teach young children, and to the quality of the services themselves.

Matthews, Hannah, & Ewen, D. (2010).Early Education Programs and Children of Immigrants: 
Learning Each Other’s Language. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
This paper discusses state and local solutions to improving access for immigrant families. It also includes specific strategies for collaborations among providers, policymakers, and immigrant-serving organizations. It explains that many immigrant families face numerous barriers to accessing high-quality and early education opportunities which will be critical to these children's success in school and in life. The authors sustain that these barriers are not insurmountable and that it is possible to obtain successful results.

 Tabors, P. O. (1997). What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know: Developing Effective 
            Programs for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children and Families. Copyright © 
1998 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Young Children 
November 199,. pages 20–26. Can be viewed at NAEYC’s Website: http://www.naeyc.org

 The material in this article was originally presented in the symposium “Voices of Change: Issues of Race, Language, and Culture in Higher Education: Preparing Teachers for a Diverse Society” at NAEYC’s sixth annual National Institute for Professional Development Conference in Seattle, Washington, June 27, 199. It is a compilation and proposal of the basic tenants presented by the author in his seminal work and book.  Among these tenants we can found essential findings about the challenges and best practices in educating linguistically and culturally diverse children and families.

 Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. P. (1997).School effectiveness for language minority students
Washington, DC: Disseminated by National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, the 
George Washington University, Center for the Study of Language and Education.

This is a seminal macroscopic research that investigated the effects of school district instructional strategies on the long-term achievement of language-minority students in five large school districts in geographically dispersed areas of the U.S. Only instructional programs that were well-implemented were examined for their long-term success on instructional effectiveness. It collected and analyzed individual student-level data on student characteristics, the instructional interventions they received, and the test results that they achieved years after participating in programs for language-minority students. The researchers collected and analyzed more than 700,000 student records from a variety of offices and sources within each school district and linked these records together at specified points in time (cross-sectional studies) and have followed large groups of students across time (longitudinal studies). 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The End of Playing

Hola, this is a picture of me after completing 6th grade. I don't know if you are aware that in Mexico, and in a large number of countries in the world, the elementary school only goes from 1st grade to 6th grade. The photograph is attached to my Elementary School Graduation certificate and I titled it “The End of Playing". I named it like this because this graduation literally signified the end of playing for me and the beginning of an adult-like life. 
Just like a couple of our colleagues, I had a difficult (nevertheless enlightening) infancy. I was born and grew up in Mexico City the most populated city in the world. I was raised in an impoverished and though neighborhood.  My mother die after giving birth to her fifth child. I was 8 years old and the oldest of the five siblings, two boys and three girls. My father fall gravely ill and lost everything. We all ended up in orphanages and lived there for a couple of years. After that, my distressed father pulled out of the orphanage my brother and I and this event marked one of the most exhilarating times of my life. For several years, my father, my brother and I lived in some of the most dissonant environments. We lived on the streets, in hotels, motels, rented houses, borrowed houses, with family, by ourselves, with poor people, with rich people, in big cities, in orchards and farms, in small cities and ranches, in more than a score of places. Here comes probably the strangest statement you will ever hear from me. Remember that four sentences above I wrote that my liberation from the orphanage marked one of the most exhilarating times of my life? Well, it was! Despite of the fact that my brother and I didn't have a stable house nor a functional family and we changed schools and living arrangements constantly we learned to play. Life became an adventure and a game for us. On all these diverse environments we learned and play. We learned the value of money by buying and selling things. We learned geography by traveling. We learned about animals, plants and seasons by working on the fields. We learned about food by hunting, fishing, gathering and cooking. We learned social skills by playing with children from diverse socio-economic status. Playing soccer, baseball, basketball, marbles, riding donkeys and old bicycles, swimming in the rivers, creeks and lakes. By talking, sharing and playing we learned the value of friendship and respect for all venues of life. Living and playing were our greatest possessions. Those were exhilarating times. The end of elementary was for me the end of my playful childhood and the beginning of a different stage in my learning journey. It was a time in which I had to "mature" and take responsibility of my family and my own life. At this moment it comes to my mind the assigned video "Development and Culture" in which Lucia Alcala, a Doctoral candidate, speaks about how children living in impoverished environments learn by "having the opportunities to do real things" which is as powerful as pretend play for learning and cognitive development. We must never diminish the power of play because it is essential in the development of fundamental skills in our children.