Advocating for Dual Language: It DOES Take a Village!
I believe so very much in the power of a well-developed dual language program. The research is so compelling; it motivates me to do my job better and continuously refine my practice to teach more efficiently, especially for my English Language Learners.
Here are some research links and helpful articles:
Impact of Two Way Immersion on Students’ Attitudes Toward School and College (Lindholm-Leary and Borsato)
Bilingual Education in the United States (Gandara and Escamilla)
In addition to the decades of research on the benefits of Dual Language Education (DLE), I see the power in bilingual education in my own students every day! Their interactions, their linguistic approximations, their “bilingualisms”, their multi-lingual and multi-cultural mindsets…they are amazing!
I’m that cheesy educator who wants to shout the statistics and in-class anecdotes from the tops of the Sierra Nevada mountains for all to hear! However, I know my voice alone will not get the message to all who need to hear (district administration, policymakers, the governor…), so I decided that it is time to take advocacy for our children and for our program to the next level. My goal this year: get the village to shout with me!
Our school is one of three in our district with a single cohort of Dual Language classes at each grade level. The rest of our district provides English Language Learners’ services through ELL pullout or push-in with a certified ELL teacher.
There is a big disconnect between what is happening in our classrooms with the goal of biliteracy and bilingualism versus the monolingual classrooms and their goal of, well, monoliteracy. There is a lot of misunderstanding – or just plain a lack of understanding whatsoever – as monolingual teachers, students, and families really haven’t been informed of the goals of our Dual Language Program. It is not necessary to point blame at anyone for that; however, we can solve some of those issues by taking them into our own hands!
Working with my principal, I set some goals for our site-based Dual Language Program:
- Reduce the attrition in our program by establishing structures and policies for program admittance in Kinder and in grades 1-5.
- There has been a trend of large classrooms in Kinder and first grade, and then small classrooms in 4th and 5th grades as students move and are not “replaced”. The goal would be to cast the net wider in the younger grades, to attract both EL families and English-only families to Dual Language, share with parents the long term benefits of dual language, and emphasize the importance of committing to the program over the long term.
- Educate all site-invested stakeholders (or as many as possible) in the research, benefits, and purpose of Dual Language Education.
- The DLE programs in our district were started a decade ago because it was a “really good idea” (It is!!). What our district forgot to do, unfortunately, was set the structures that make the program sustainable and successful, such as establishing long-term goals for the program, establishing and maintaining teacher allocations for DL classrooms in single-strand schools, and planning for bilingual staffing as the program grows (partnering with the teacher education program at our local University to train teachers in bilingual education, for example, would have been a great plan! It’s not too late….). Now, it seems, most of the administrators who started the program are no longer in the district, and everyone’s excuse about expanding and supporting the DLE program is that “there’s no money.” My question is, How can we afford NOT to support DLE?
- Establish a site-based Dual Language Advisory Council to help achieve Goals 1 and 2 as well as further the effectiveness and expand the advocacy of Dual Language Education in our district.
- We need people on our side. I figure the best place to start is with the people and families who already believe in the program and have seen the benefits. If we start at our own site, we influence our own school culture and then slowly expand to influence more.
I wish I could say that our state requires mandatory bilingual education for our English Learners. It doesn’t. I wish I could say that Dual Language Education is fully funded as a special program, systematically planned-for and widespread throughout my district. It isn’t. I’ve come to terms with the fact that those big ticket items are out of my control. For now (#GOALS). However, there are still things that I can do to help strengthen our highly valuable program!
Let me introduce to you our newly formed Dual Language Advisory Council, which we are fondly referring to as our “DLAC”.
Before this school year, there was no DLAC in my district. We have three schools with dual language programs (out of 62+ elementary schools!). There is a possibility there may be similar committees at the other two schools with DLE, but if so, they have not reached out to our school to strengthen the DLE bond (one of our long term goals). So as far as we know, they are not out there.
How did we get the ball rolling? We pushed!
It started with an interest meeting. I planned a presentation with many of those things I want to shout from the mountaintops. Research: Thomas and Collier, Cummins, Bialystok, Escamilla. Best practices happening in our classrooms: Biliteracy Unit Frameworks (Beeman and Urow), oracy building, solid tier 1 instruction, biliteracy mindset. And I was honest about some of the issues our program has seen over the years: attrition, teacher retention, lack of funding, etc.
My purpose was to start an open conversation. I invited anyone and everyone interested in the Dual Language Program at our school. That could mean current parents, future parents, staff members, community members, district administration…anyone! I called the presentation “Why Dual Language?”
Both during and after the presentation, I invited attendees to voice their thoughts, be them testimonials, concerns, questions, or otherwise. We took notes, had conversations, and exchanged ideas. The energy was very positive; we had started something!
From there, we invited anyone interested to join our official committee: the Dual Language Advisory Council. We decided to meet quarterly, created a mission statement, set some tangible goals for this school year, and, of course, made a snack schedule! Our committee is comprised of parents, teachers, and even one community member who does not have a child in the program. Progress!
Our DLAC is already doing great things. By sharing the passion and working together, we are accomplishing more! After one official meeting…
- We now have a regular section to our school’s newsletter, which will give updates on the Dual Language program.
- We are working on policies for program admittance to ensure equitable access to the program.
- We are revising and updating the school’s outdated Dual Language Handbook to reflect the current program and new policies.
- We are meeting with our site administrator regarding a stronger bilingual presence in the school, including signage, office staff, and flyers/handouts.
- We are working on scheduling a presentation regarding our program with the district Board of Trustees…a feat that involves protocol, red tape, and a little buttering up!
Just by speaking up, I found a whole bunch of passionate citizens who, like me, just want what’s best for our children, the next leaders of our community. Our DLAC is a great group of people who make the imperative job of advocacy for bilingual education not just more powerful, but also more fun! The voices from the mountaintop are becoming stronger every day. Let me know when you can hear us!
