Bilingual success: It's in mix
LAWRENCE -- As the controversy over English-immersion classes simmers on in the city, two schools in South Lawrence are quietly using English-immersion teaching methods that Superintendent Wilfredo T. Laboy says should serve as an example of how bilingual education should work. Both the Wetherbee School on Newton Street and the Saunders School on South Broadway include classes for both immigrant and American-born children who are learning English as a second language in classrooms where the predominant language is English. Third-graders at Wetherbee School in Lawrence, Sommorith Sor (center) and Dally To, both 8, raise their hands when asked by teacher Yany Nhean to name an adverb from the story they are reading. Students in this Wetherbee classroom are all natives of either Vietnam or Cambodia, but are taught in mostly English. Only when students are confused about directions or need clarification do they receive instruction in their native language. Mr. Laboy said that these classes contrast many of the district's "bilingual" classrooms, where very little English is spoken to students who are limited in the English language, and students often remain in transitional classes for much longer than three years. For about 80 percent of students in the Lawrence schools, English is not their native tongue. And about 26 percent of students are considered to have "limited English proficiency." Mr. Laboy's goal is to get students to learn English more quickly. He plans to move forward with plans to set up programs across the district similar to those in the Wetherbee and the Saunders, despite vocal opposition -- mostly from Latinos who say the district should simultaneously cultivate native language skills of Spanish-speaking students and give them skills to be truly bilingual. By next fall, Mr. Laboy plans to implement an English-immersion program for students in kindergarten through second grade. These students will still receive about 80 percent to 90 percent of their instruction in their native language, he said. Older students who arrive in the district will be expected to move into regular education classes after three years of transitional bilingual classes, with a focus on learning English. "There's plenty of English for children with idea clarifications in their native language," said Mr. Laboy. "I think the misconception that folks have out there is that it's 100 percent English." In the Wetherbee, third- and fourth-grade Vietnamese and Cambodian students are already in English-immersion classes, as are a handful of native-Spanish-speaking students in a kindergarten classroom at the Saunders School. The Wetherbee classroom is divided into three groups taught by three teachers -- one native Cambodian, one native Vietnamese and one specially trained Anglo. Students in the classroom are exposed to all languages, but mostly English. In a vocabulary-building lesson, teacher Kim Vu -- who speaks Vietnamese and English -- shows cards with words written on them to students Hai Tran, 10, and Vu Cao, 11, who both came to Lawrence from Vietnam last year. Most of the lesson is in English. "Do you remember the past tense of sing?" asks Ms. Vu, as she holds up a card for both boys to see. "Song," says Hai Tran, enthusiastically. "It's very close. Very close," said Ms. Vu, prompting him to try again. "Sang," he says. "I knew that you knew. Can you sing a song for me?" she asks, and he sings a little song. A few minutes later, she asks them questions about the story "Little Red Riding Hood." She asks the boys, "Why do you think that in the (story) ''Red Riding Hood,'' the wolf was mean? What detail tells you?" She looks at Vu Cao and can see from his expression he did not understand. She asks him the question in Vietnamese, and he replies in Vietnamese. "How do you say it in English?" she asks him. "He eat a little girl," he says. "He ate a little girl, right," she gently corrects him. Mr. Laboy is hoping that teaching English this way will show as dramatic results as are being reported in California, where a referendum vote dismantled the state's bilingual education system in 1998. For the past two years, educators there have been required to immerse students who are learning English -- who are mostly native Spanish speakers -- into English-only classes after one year. The New York Times reported in August that average reading scores among second-graders limited in English increased nine percentage points in the last two years, to 28. In math, the average score for the second-graders increased 14 percentage points, to 41. |