Que Pasa? Spanish Lessons Are Starting in Kindergarten

Not too long ago, Spanish was a middle school or even high school elective. Now some schools are requiring it as early as kindergarten. Why the push?

In the next 10 years, Spanish may surpass French as the second most-spoken language in the world, language experts say. English is now No. 1.

“I hear Spanish spoken here a lot more than any other languages besides English,” says Mandee Hollingsworth, a student from Boise, Idaho.

Hispanics are the nation’s fastest-growing minority group. In 1990, there were 22.4 million Hispanics in the United States. By 2000, the U.S. Census estimates there will be 31 million.

And the Spanish language and culture are increasingly becoming part of mainstream America. Xuxa, Brazil’s most popular kids’ TV hostess, will have a show on the Family Channel this fall. Latin music is finding thousands of crossover fans. And many videos and pay-per-view movies offer Spanish subtitles.

To succeed in this multicultural world, people need to know two languages, says Janet Nolan, a Chicago language educator.

Kids can’t wait until high school to learn Spanish, she says. One solution being tried is dual-language programs, where kids are taught only in Spanish until third grade. After that, they are taught in both Spanish and English.

The idea is to make Spanish more natural. Kids immersed in Spanish don’t think of it as a foreign language, says Flavia Hernandez, principal of Chicago’s Ruben Salazar Elementary. It’s not another subject, it’s life.

There are 176 dual-language programs in 17 states. Most are in Spanish, but others are in Navajo, Cantonese, Russian and Arabic.

Kids learn languages for personal reasons, too, says Inez Marquez Chisholm, a bilingual educator at Arizona State University.

These days, kids from many different countries, speaking many different languages, sit side-by-side in U.S. classrooms.

“Kids want to communicate.”



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