Torres speaks on bilingual ed in Kingsville

A&M-K conference teaches educators about cultures

Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, former director of migrant and bilingual staff development programs at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, believes the role of a bilingual teacher isn’t just about teaching a student how to speak and write in English.

It’s about understanding how a student’s culture affects how they learn.

“There a great deal of students who have parents who may not be active in their child’s education because they don’t speak the language,” Torres said. “The parents may not be used to dealing with the schools because they don’t feel comfortable with the language.”

Torres, who now works as vice president for student affairs at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, will be one of many speakers featured at the 27th annual Spring Bilingual Conference, a two-day event that begins today in the A&M-Kingsville’s Student Union Building.

Torres will give a presentation on “Reflecting on Bilingual Education’s Past and Looking Toward the Future.”

From 1971-1975, Torres was a consultant and program officer for the Texas Education Agency assisting a number of school districts throughout Texas with immigrant, bilingual and preschool programs. He also worked at A&M-Kingsville for more than 20 years with migrant and bilingual staff development programs.

In New Mexico, he helps one of the local school districts to work with Latin American initiatives and has helped to establish an endowment for $5 million.

“We are still faced with the challenge of Hispanics who are coming here from many countries, especially the big three: Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, so we need to prepared to provide language skills in Spanish,” he said.

“But in Albuquerque we are definitely seeing that this isn’t just a Spanish issue,” he said. “We are seeing more immigrants from Russia, Thailand and China so there is the need for bilingual teachers to deal with those groups.”

The two-day conference is expected to draw more than 600 educators from the area and other cities including Houston, the Valley and San Antonio, said Gustavo Gonzalez, chairman of the department of bilingual education.

It will feature about 40 concurrent sessions on topics including methods on helping bilingual students to develop language skills, preparing students to take the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills and implementing a dual language program for gifted and talented students. An issue that will be explored at the conference is the shortage of bilingual teachers in the state, Gonzalez said. Educators have said that area school districts haven’t seen shortages. But districts nearby, including those in San Antonio and Harlingen, need bilingual help.

“In the last five to six years, the Texas Education Agency has identified bilingual education, math, science and special education teachers as areas that are facing the greatest need through the state,” he said.

“This is an issue that schools have been dealing with for some time and will continue to deal with,” Gonzalez said. “The conference is just another commitment that the university has to promoting bilingual education in this area.”



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