LINDA VELASQUEZ recalls all too vividly the mid-1950s and her beginning years in a Houston public school.

For children such as Velasquez who spoke no English, those were the sink-or-swim years, the years before school districts nationwide adopted bilingual education. Velasquez recalls the ruler slaps on her knuckles when she couldn’t understand what the teacher was asking, the sick stomach that often sent her to the nurse’s office.

When Velasquez’ language barrier targeted her for special education in the second grade, her mother sent her to a private school. She still remembers the day, even the book she was reading, when the English finally made sense. She was in the fourth grade. The book was “”The Cat and the Canary. ”

“”It really left such a lasting impression on me,” said Velasquez, who now has a doctorate degree and coordinates a federally funded bilingual education program at Burbank Middle School.

In the Houston Independent School District, more than 50,000 students — fully one-fourth of the student body — come from homes where little if any English is spoken.

While some argue that students should be pushed to use English as quickly as possible, Velasquez — who reflects today’s dominant educational philosophy — believes in teaching students first how to read and reason in their native language before forcing them to use English.

“”It is a lot easier to learn a brand new concept in a language that you understand than trying to learn a new language and a new concept at the same time,” she said. “”When they have that foundation in the first language, it is just a matter of putting a new label on what they have already learned. ”

In an inner-city school district that is more than 50 percent Hispanic, state-mandated bilingual programs have become the norm for Spanish-speaking children. As for children of other nationalities, there are rarely enough children in any one school to justify bilingual classes. Consequently, most are taught in English but with strategies specifically designed for instruction in a second language.

Exactly what forms these programs take vary greatly from school to school, and to some extent, district to district.

For example:

Cunningham Elementary is one of many elementary schools that offers a traditional bilingual program. Children from Spanish-speaking homes first learn their lessons in Spanish, while every year they are taught more and more English. Students make the transition to an all-English class when they are considered ready.

Darren Crasto, a fourth-grade bilingual teacher at Cunningham, said he can empathize with children who are struggling to learn their lessons in a new language. As an English-speaking child, he was taught for two years in a German classroom.

“”It’s terrifying,” he said. “”Your head can’t absorb academic things because the language is so shocking. ”

But first-grade teacher Mariarosa Oliver said in her class, where most of the day is spent giving students an academic foundation in Spanish, “”They are learning English, and they don’t even realize it. ”

Although bilingual programs normally are not offered after elementary school, Burbank Middle School has one for roughly 130 students who are still having trouble with English or have recently arrived from Spanish-speaking countries. As in the elementary schools, students are taught first in their native language.

Some of the students, educators say, have had little prior schooling before emigrating to the U.S.As bilingual coordinator Velasquez sees it, “”The idea is to get them educated, not just to learn English. ”

Herod Elementary last year began offering a dual-language program in some classes where 50 percent of the children spoke only English and 50 percent spoke only Spanish. Half the lessons were taught in Spanish and half were taught in English so the children could become fluent and literate in both languages.

The program, limited last year to one class in kindergarten, first and second grades, has proven so popular with parents like Patty Sommer that there is a long waiting list of students wanting to enroll.

“”They don’t have a problem; it’s just amazing,” said Sommer, whose 6-year-old daughter, Caroline, went through kindergarten hearing her lessons in two languages. “”I don’t have any doubt in my mind that if she continues, she is going to be bilingual. ” Frances McArthur, the program’s coordinator, is thrilled.

“”The kids are surpassing what we had hoped for,” she said.

The Aldine Independent School District has created an English language institute for students in grades 5 through 12 who are new arrivals to the United States.

For one year or so, students spend half their days at the institute, where teams of teachers give them intense English instruction. The rest of their day is spent at their home school taking mostly nonacademic courses. After leaving the institute, students attend classes where teachers use hands-on academic instruction to further improve their English before they are moved into regular classes.

“”They have to have knowledge of the language before you can begin teaching content vocabulary that they know nothing about,” said Aldine’s Eva Lopez, who also advocates bilingual education when it is appropriate for the child.

But bilingual education, even in its many forms, is getting renewed scrutiny, drawing criticism from people who quarrel with its effectiveness and question why public money should be spent to promote the preservation of a child’s native language and the culture that defines it.

Bilingual proponents like Noelia Garza cite research showing that children who learn first in their native language and then make a gradual transition to English do best academically.

“”It works if it is implemented the way it is supposed to be,” said Garza, director of bilingual education in HISD.

But groups like the READ Institute and U.S. English cite their own studies to argue that the faster children learn English, the better.

“”The focus has to be on helping them move into English, and that is where the emphasis has been missing in most bilingual programs,” said Patty Whitelaw-Hill, executive director of the READ Institute, which stands for Research in English Acquisition and Development.

Indeed, federal funding for bilingual education, as well as other educational programs, faces cuts this year and in the future.

As part of a cost-cutting plan, Congress recently voted to trim about $ 38 million from bilingual programs, although President Clinton has pledged a veto.

U.S.Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, who sits on the Economic and Education Opportunities Committee, could not speculate how bilingual education will fare in next year’s budget allocations.

”In Washington, we are looking at budget cuts,” said Green, who vows to fight to maintain bilingual funding. “”All education funding is in jeopardy, but bilingual in particular. ”

Although most bilingual funding comes from the state, some programs — including two in HISD — are funded with federal grant money. The programs at Burbank and Herod received a total of nearly $ 350,000 in federal funds this year.

As for state dollars, every child deemed nonproficient in English attracts 10 percent more funding than the average English-speaking child. School officials say the additional money is needed not only for materials but to recruit hard-to-find bilingual teachers.

HISD, for example, offers bilingual teachers a $ 3,000 stipend, yet still finds them in short supply. Last year, 1,200 non-English-speaking students were in all-English classes because there were too few bilingual teachers to go around.

And the problem of finding qualified teachers is not likely to get any easier.

However, the high school exit exam — the all-important test for students wanting a diploma — will continue to be offered in English only.



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