Posted on 01/03/2008 1:56:16 PM PST by Snickering Hound
Two Spring Branch elementary schools are hosting informational meetings for parents wanting to enroll their children in Spanish and English dual-language programs for the 2008-09 school year.
Cedar Brook Elementary, 2121 Ojeman, will host a site visit at 8 a.m. Jan. 10 and parent orientations at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Jan. 17, while Sherwood Elementary, 1700 Sherwood Forest, will have parent orientations at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Jan. 15.
Parents can learn about the curriculum, enrollment requirements, tuition and transportation. Children from across the district are eligible for either program and will be selected by lottery at the end of January.
The goal of both programs is to have pupils speaking, reading and writing fluently in English and Spanish by the time they leave fifth grade, but the programs differ in their approach.
At Sherwood, where the program was introduced last August, classes will have half English and half Spanish speakers who will receive instruction in English half the time and Spanish half the time from pre-K through fifth grade.
The school is looking to fill two pre-K classes and some spots in kindergarten.
"This is such a great opportunity for children to not only be bilingual, but also become biliterate and bicultural," said Anita Jacobs, Sherwood Elementary School principal.
"We have great parental support, and the district is very supportive," Jacobs said.
For more information, call the school at 713-365-4800.
About 290 children in prekindergarten through fifth grade are enrolled in the long-established dual-language program at Cedar Brook, where children are exposed to a second language in varying degrees.
In prekindergarten, pupils have a 50/50 split of English and Spanish instruction.
In kindergarten and first grade, 90 percent of instruction is in Spanish. More English instruction is added each subsequent year until there is a 50/50 split of English and Spanish by fifth grade.
Susan Eyre, Cedar Brook's dual-language coordinator, said fluency in two languages boosts self esteem and cognitive skills.
Pupils who graduate from the program can go on to Westchester Academy for International Studies where they can continue dual-language classes.
Cedar Brook is looking to fill two pre-K classes, which will be split evenly into English and Spanish speakers, and one kindergarten class.
For more information, call 713-365-5020.
Tough break for those kindergarten and first graders that actually speak english...
While I don’t live in Spring Branch, I do work in the area. Used to be a nice area. Now, not so much. For obvious reasons.
If Spanish is the language of success would you please explain Mexico.
ping
You don't suppose the advantage of fluency in two languages would be that it would boost their ability to hold down a good paying job function as productive members of society? Or is that expecting too much?
Knowing two languages is a benefit in all aspects of life.
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I would tend to agree. Most educated Europeans I know are fluent in several languages, and they begin learning them in elementary school, rather than waiting until high school as we do.
I don't see the problem with this - it's voluntary, so parents who don't like the program don't have to have their children participate, and since they are using a lottery system, they apparently anticipate more people wanting to participate than they currently have room for.
It seems to me to be a great idea. Particularly since it appears to be totally voluntary.....
There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else.
The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.- Theodore Roosevelt
They have to be. They live in a fragmented area of the world - much like Africa.
>Most educated Europeans I know are fluent in several languages
Most educated Europeans I know are total socialist assclowns.
The Europeans don’t start the second language usually until 4th grade - after the native language is firmly established.
I don’t think kids have learned enough English skills - reading, spelling, grammar - to start with 90% Spanish in K-1. It seems tilted towards kids who live in Spanish-speaking households.
My kid has a friend whose father was Brazilian-American and spoke Portugese and English, and whose mother was Brazilian-Italian and spoke Italian, Portugese and English. The kid is verbally fluent in all 3 languages, but only reads and write very well in one - English. The family spoke Portugese at home, English with their friends and at school, and the mother took the kid to Italy for 6 weeks every summer to visit relatives.
I know. What I was getting at was the clueless lady who was more worried about their self-esteem than the practical implications.
Sorry to hear that. The ones I know are successful capitalist businessmen.
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