It’s a typical kindergarten scene; kids are clustered around tables, each table engaged in a different activity.
Some are working on the alphabet, playing connect-the-dots by putting letters in order. Others are working on colors, sorting Valentine’s candies by hue. And others are playing vocabulary bingo, marking off squares as a parent volunteer holds up pictures.
But a closer look reveals that instead of “red” and “green,” the words for colors are “rojo” and “verde.”
The alphabet games include an ñ, and as the parent volunteer holds up a picture of an apple, she calls out “manzana.”
And when it’s time to switch tables, the teacher calls “Es la hora que cambiar.” Every child rises without question and settles at the next table.
Yet only half of them speak Spanish.
But, as their understanding of their teacher’s prompt demonstrated, that is changing. Half way through the first year of Monroe’s dual-language kindergarten program at Frank Wagner Elementary, English speakers and Spanish speakers are getting their education in both languages at once, and parents and teachers say the program has already exceeded their expectations.
“It’s incredible,” said Nicole Erickson, a parent who volunteers in her daughter’s class twice a week, as well as serving on the PTA. “Madison is just thrilled. She’ll sing in English and in Spanish, and she’ll play and talk in English and Spanish.”
Like many of the parents who made the decision last year to enroll their children in the new program, she wanted to giver her daughter more opportunities as an adult.
“I think it’s a huge advantage to be bilingual,” she said. “There are more job opportunities. And I think it’s enriching.”
The advantages that come with being bilingual, in fact, may only begin at employment opportunities. Being bilingual, or bi-cultural, in more current parlance, can lead to better educational outcomes as well.
Scientists have known for a long time that children learn languages much more easily than do adults. Children have the capacity to learn several languages at once, sorting them out automatically, although in early years they’ll have a tendency to use whatever word is shortest to describe an object.
Children also are born with the ability to pronounce the sounds of any language, losing that ability as they settle into a native tongue, so kids who learn a second (or third or fourth) language as children will have flawless pronunciation.
But more than that, kids who learn languages also outperform their single-language peers on other subjects.
A recent study showed that children who were fluent in two or more languages scored a full 140 points higher on the critical reading part of the SAT, out of a possible score of 800. And they also scored 140 points higher on the math portion and 150 points higher on the writing portions of the test as well.
That has lead to a high demand for dual language education opportunities in public schools. And for years, Frank Wagner Elementary principal Robin Fitch dreamed of bringing such a program to Monroe.
But until last year, it wasn’t possible, mostly due to funding.
Title One funding, federal funding for schools with a high percentage of children who qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program, was available for such a program. But only the kids from low income families could benefit.
“It was a paperwork nightmare,” said Monroe School District superintendent Ken Hoover.
But two thing happened which removed obstacles.
Frank Wagner got funding enough to offer full-day kindergarten. And the school finally had a high enough percentage of low-income families to make the entire school a Title One school, able to use Title One funds for all students regardless of income level.
Fitch, who attended seminars on dual language programs and was a firm believer in their benefit, leapt at the opportunity.
It was a bit of a hard sell to the school board, though, she said.
“They asked why, and who benefits and what were the costs,” she said.
Thanks to Title One, there is no extra cost. And as many as 10 families Monroe had tried recently to transfer to a Northshore district that offered dual language education, so clearly there was interest. So the school board approved the project.
The faculty created a program in which an equal number of native Spanish and English speakers would attend school together, spending half the day learning in English, the other half in Spanish.
When they rolled the program out last year, they agreed that off they didn’t get 25 kids signed up, enough for one classroom, they’d cancel the program.
They needn’t have worried. So many parents signed up they doubled the program to two classrooms, and there is currently a waiting list.
Now, when these kindergarteners come to school in the morning, half head into the Spanish speaking class, where they are given instruction in science, art, Spanish literacy and social studies purely in Spanish. The other half learn math and English literacy.
Halfway through the day, they switch classrooms, each taking what the other students had in the morning.
That means that all the kids are learning half their subjects in a language that is foreign to them.
At first, studies show that that slows children down a little. But not for long.
“Statistically, they don’t get it at the same caliber at first,” said Fitch. “But in the research, they equalize by the third grade. And then they become some of the highest scorers.”
In fact, the study of a second language has a physical impact on children’s brains. Those who are bilingual are showed to have more grey matter, the part of the brains governing thinking and reasoning, and have a higher brain density as well.
Monroe kids may not have to wait until the third grade to catch up with their peers, however, said Jessica Conte, who teaches the English half of the program.
“Our current scores as of today show that their scores are equal with their peers,” she said Thursday.
And parents seem satisfied with their children’s progress; of the 50 students who started the class in September, only two have left the program, and both because the families moved away.
The children will have the opportunity to continue their dual-language education all the way through elementary school. Each year for the next four years, Frank Wagner will expand the program. Next year, this year’s dual-language kindergarteners will get to take dual-language first grade, and so on, until all five grades have a dual-language option.
Kids who didn’t start with the cohort at the start of the kindergarten year can enter the program any time that space becomes available. Those wanting to enter in the first grade will have to pass a test to make sure they can keep up. After the first grade, kids who haven’t taken the first two years won’t be able to enter the program.
That means that by the end of the fifth grade, the class sizes will undoubtedly have shrunk somewhat, Fitch acknowledged. But after a point, it becomes too difficult for a non-bilingual child to catch up, she explained.
One of the primary benefits of the program is that it offers the children an opportunity to learn in another language, but to socialize in each other’s languages and cultures. And that opportunity doesn’t end with the school day.
Many kids are now going on play dates with kids who speak the other language.
And once a month, there is a parent activity night, where children’s parents come in, mingle, and engage in activities, alternating languages each month.
“That way, one month the Spanish speakers are expert,” said Fitch. “The next month, the English speakers are expert.”
The interaction breaks down cultural barriers, too, Fitch said.
At first, being in a class where she didn’t understand everything was a bit of a shock to Areya, 6, said her mother Amy Mann.
“At first she cried,” said Mann. “But now she loves it. And she counts like crazy. She doesn’t even count as high in English as she does in Spanish.”
English-speaking kids are already sometimes speaking Spanish at home, too.
“All of a sudden she’ll rattle something off in Spanish as we have to ask her what she said,” said Sharon Hunter, great-aunt of student Morganne, 5. Morganne’s mom, Leslie Horn, took Spanish for six years in school, but never progressed beyond being able to read Spanish. She hoped that the immersion method would result in true Spanish fluency for her daughter.
Hunter said that the family is very pleased with the results so far.
The benefits of the program already are attracting next year’s kindergarten parents.
Although registration for kindergarten doesn’t start until March 5, parents are already calling and asking to be put on a waiting list for the program.
Those parents who have gotten on the list by March 5 will have a confirmed spot if they register March 5, said Fitch.
If the kids in Melanie Dugan’s all-Spanish class are any indication, the program is fun for students, as well as beneficial.
While coloring Valentine’s Day hearts, they argue over the exact color of a crayon; is it “rosa,” or pink?
“That’s not pink,” insists a blond boy, reaching for the crayon. “¡Mira!” (look!) It’s red!”
And at the vocabulary bingo table, a child is having so much fun yelling out the Spanish words for the pictures he doesn’t even notice that he has marked out a whole row on his bingo card.
When someone points out that he should call out, he yells “Bingo!” But the Spanish-speaking parent-volunteer smiles and shakes her head.
That’s not the way they say “bingo” in Spanish.
The little boy re-calibrates and then, grinning, yells again.