A Question of Language

EDUCATION: Parents are split along ethnic lines on the best way to teach English.

Orange County parents believe their children need to learn English to succeed, but they disagree _ largely along ethnic lines _ on the best way to teach it.

Overall, parents were split in their support of two program options in The Orange County Register Poll. For example, 48 percent of the parents surveyed wanted total immersion, where students are placed in English-only classes with no support in their native language. But 43 percent preferred bilingual education, the program in which students study in their primary language while learning English.

But the division is a sharper one when viewed ethnically.

A majority of white parents polled preferred immersion and believed English-speaking students suffered when their schools offered bilingual education.

Debbie Roper, 41, of Westminster, said her daughter’s class last year suffered because the teacher took time out to explain the lessons to students who spoke Vietnamese and Spanish.

“It’s taking away from children who already know the language,” Roper said. Though she said she supports people being bilingual, she believes classroom lessons should be English-only.

“My dad spoke only Italian when he came here, and he had to learn English,” Roper said. “He read the comics. It was very hard, but he did it. “

But a majority of non-white parents don’t want their children to experience that same difficulty. Fifty-seven percent of those parents supported bilingual programs. A majority also believed English-speaking students benefited or were mostly unaffected by bilingual lessons.

“It’s a good idea for all students to become bilingual,” Martha Frias said. “You can get a better job. You have more chance to communicate with all people. “

Part of the division of opinion could be attributed to conflicting perceptions about bilingual education.

For example, most parents who don’t support bilingual education believe it emphasizes the native language, not English. Educators say just the opposite is true.

A stinging report by the non-partisan Little Hoover Commission in July also fueled the bilingual controversy, charging that the state’s bilingual program failed to meet its goals. The report by the independent watchdog group that oversees government agencies focused on one program in Los Angeles. That program, the report found, is slow to move students to transitional classes that teach more English.

Parents such as John Hilston, father of two grown children, believe bilingual education divides the country.

“I’m a total believer that once you’re here, become an American and merge with the culture,” Hilston said. “I’m totally against trying to adopt multiple cultures. English is the national language, good or bad. Multiple languages in schools or anyplace else is counterproductive. It bothers me. ” Educators acknowledge bilingual education has a public-relations problem. They try to change public opinion by inviting parents to see their programs before they form an opinion.

Orange County educators in three of the largest school districts say the biggest misconception is that bilingual education is only one program. It’s not.

It would be foolish, they say, to rely on one program because the needs of students are so varied. Teachers and administrators in the Capistrano, Garden Grove and Santa Ana Unified school districts say they use a variety of transitional programs geared to the younger grades, where the need is greatest.

Capistrano, for example, offers a dual immersion course designed to make English- and Spanish-speakers bilingual by the time they reach sixth grade. Santa Ana’s limited-English-speakers _ who make up 67 percent of the district’s nearly 50,000 students _ also pick from a variety of programs geared to the transition from total Spanish to English classes.

“We do push English,” said Nadine Rodriguez, principal at Roosevelt Elementary, where 93 percent of the students speak limited English. “We are very adamant about that. A lot of people think we want to keep them here (speaking Spanish). We don’t. “

In Garden Grove, school officials choose among four programs that address students with no English skills to those who are nearly fluent and need only occasional help in their native language.

Annelle Arthur said people must realize that students need to first become fluent in their own language before they can learn concepts in English.

At Bryant Elementary, kindergarteners and first-graders are taught in Spanish, with limited introduction to English.

By second grade, they are picking up English and the class is carefully structured to use both. Third-graders make the transition to English by midyear, with aides and the teacher providing individual instruction in Spanish as needed.

The Spanish-speaking students mix with their English-speaking peers in classes that don’t require language proficiency, such as art, physical education and music.

Jesica Ronzon, 8, spoke limited English last year. Now a third-grader, she easily moves in and out of both languages.

“When I’m at the playground with my friends, sometimes I use (Spanish),” Jesica said. But mostly she speaks English. “I think it’s better with two languages ’cause I could learn more. ” Garden Grove’s program seems to work _ its students score at their grade level when they move to the all-English lessons, according to the state Department of Education.

But fears persist. Bilingual teachers say they must reassure Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parents that their children are not being cheated.

“Learning English, it has to start at the oral level and build to the word level,” teacher Sandy Poochigian said.

Colleague Pam Fosco, whose Spanish-speaking first-graders open their class reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and a rousing version of “Grand Old Flag” _ in English _ said people lose sight of what bilingual education is doing: preparing students for the world.

“They really have such an advantage,” Fosco said. “It’s really unfortunate that some parents don’t see that. “

But everyone agrees that unless the programs are run correctly _ most importantly that there are qualified teachers to teach them _ bilingual education will fail.

California has a chronic shortage of bilingual and ethnic teachers _ especially for Asian languages such as Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Japanese and Chinese. Universities and colleges have pushed in recent years to recruit more, but they can’t keep up with the increasing numbers of limited-English students, Rodriguez said.

By the year 2000, a variety of studies suggest, 60 percent of the population in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Texas will speak Spanish.

“We’ve been trying to improve the overall instruction for 15 years,” Rodriguez said. “We try to be creative and do all we can. ” VOICES:

“They make me angry. Come in and meet our kids. They need to come in and see what’s going on. “

Marissa Kosai, bilingual teacher at Bryant Elementary School in Garden Grove, of people who criticize bilingual education

“We are wrong if we think that we can have open immigration to the point where we can have people in seventh and eighth grades and later years come into our school system, speaking God-knows-what language, and expecting the school to adjust to them. “

parent John Hilston of Fountain Valley

“A lot of people feel that Latin American people are coming here to take away jobs from people. We come here for a better life.

Nothing is free here. It’s all hard. “

Martha Frias, parent

“I think usually teachers have to spend a lot more time with non-English-speaking students. Everyone falls behind and you have them learning a little bit of everything and a lot of nothing. “

parent Virginia Chalmers of Lake Forest

“The kids who are successful in total immersion programs have a lot of support at home and prior education. Kids who have never been to school have a very difficult time with it. “

Terry Emmett, a state Department of Education consultant who has worked on bilingual-education programs



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