As a bilingual teacher during the late 1990’s and also when Prop 227 was passed, I can say that the way the “bilingual” classes were split on site and at my elementary school was a far cry from what I see today in the dual immersion climate. I had ONLY Spanish speakers in my San Jose, CA classroom. I was told by administrators to “mix” with the English only classroom twice per day, but I was then informed by the English only teachers that there was no time for that.
While I tried to push my time with the “mixing”, I was the new kid on the block with ideas that didn’t match what they had been doing for many years. It was frustrating to see uncooperative educators work against really providing ESL learners the opportunity to gain social and academic English skills with their grade level classmates. The system was broken, faulty and without checks and balances. I would teach my children using the program I believed was best according to the research only to hand my kids to the 1st grade classroom that even though was “bilingual” didn’t believe in teaching in Spanish.
Frustrated and young, I left teaching after the passing of Prop 227. I'm now back in education with my own immersion schools and programs (Pasitos Schools and Language Achieve) which are successfully introducing and continuing language learning and acquisition for the children. I’m proud that SB1174 has been passed. Waiting to vote on it until Nov. 2016 seems like a long time. Let’s hope we can get it right for the kids this time.
While I tried to push my time with the “mixing”, I was the new kid on the block with ideas that didn’t match what they had been doing for many years. It was frustrating to see uncooperative educators work against really providing ESL learners the opportunity to gain social and academic English skills with their grade level classmates. The system was broken, faulty and without checks and balances. I would teach my children using the program I believed was best according to the research only to hand my kids to the 1st grade classroom that even though was “bilingual” didn’t believe in teaching in Spanish.
Frustrated and young, I left teaching after the passing of Prop 227. I'm now back in education with my own immersion schools and programs (Pasitos Schools and Language Achieve) which are successfully introducing and continuing language learning and acquisition for the children. I’m proud that SB1174 has been passed. Waiting to vote on it until Nov. 2016 seems like a long time. Let’s hope we can get it right for the kids this time.
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