Aliyya Swaby Photo
Parents pack Hill Central for bilingual ed session.
Veronica Perez raised her hand to ask the teacher a question: Should she help her second-grader with homework, even though she learned math differently in school in Mexico?
Hill Central Music Academy teacher Gissela Martinez responded with an emphatic: “Si!”
Martinez fielded that question and others one recent afternoon from Spanish-speaking parents of English language learning students (aka “ELLs”), teaching them how to get involved with their children’s education despite not knowing English.
The event, which was held last Thursday, was part of a larger effort at the preK‑8 school to provide additional services for its large population of ELLs. The school, a one-time “turnaround” that has upped its game, is pointing the way in how to work with immigrant and Spanish-speaking families to make sure their children succeed.
Turnout was strong at the event, Martinez said. The cafeteria at 140 Dewitt St. was packed with 31 parents and their small wiggling kids, who each got a bag of chips, cookies and water.
“We’re making sure they’re involved. It helps us move children along,” Martinez said. We want them “not to abandon their native language.”
Transitional Bilingual Model
Martinez, part of Hill Central’s successful outreach team.
Before engaging with parents’ individual questions, six Hill Central teachers led parents in a simple presentation of the transitional bilingual model — which has ELLs who enter in kindergarten learning solely in English by third grade.
In kindergarten, students start in Spanish and learn English little by little, third-grade teacher Paola Gomes explained to parents in Spanish. Martinez repeated to them in English.
By first grade, students are receiving some instruction in English and some in Spanish, first grade teacher Sarah Howland said. From September through January, most classes are in Spanish, except for science and art, which are in English. The second semester, students learn math in English instead of Spanish. They also have their grammar and reading classes half in English and half in Spanish, to ensure they are getting a solid foundation in their native language while building English comprehension skills.
The priority, she said, is learning to read and converse in English.
In second-grade, students are learning mostly in English. Students “can speak to me in Spanish. But I respond in English,” Martinez told parents.
All third-grade classes are taught in English, Gomes said. She helps students make connections between specific English and Spanish words, and helps those who are still struggling with comprehension.
English as a Second Language teachers Nicole Dickler and Maria Peters work with students who need extra help. “We take students from the classroom,” Peters said. “We work with students to develop their knowledge of speaking, listening, reading and writing.”
They also work with classroom teachers to ensure the material is accessible to all students.
Bilingual Parent Involvement
Esparza.
Teachers encouraged parents to read and go through basic math exercises with their students every night, in either English or Spanish.
Kindergarten teacher Rosa Esparza handed out a set of books at a series of levels to her students’ parents Thursday. She showed them how the Spanish words and sentences got larger and longer with each level.
The level A book included simple words and a lot of repetition: “Aquí está mi pie. Here is my foot.” Level B had longer sentences: “Puedes venir aquí arriba? Yo puedo! Can you come up here? I can!”
“It’s very important that they do the reading,” Esparza said. She asked parents to go through the letter sounds in Spanish with their kids, including letters only found in the Spanish alphabet, such as “ll” and “ñ.”
Parent Maura Lara said she learned a lot from hearing Esparza and the other teachers go through the parent expectations. Her kindergarten son learned a little bit of English at childcare program LULAC Head Start, so he is starting off at a high level.
Lara speaks no English at all, but will continue to read with her son in Spanish.
Flexible Learning
Perez (left).
Other parents needed more reassurance that they would be able to help their students, despite differing educational backgrounds. Perez asked second-grade teacher Martinez whether teaching her child a new way of ordering numbers would harm her learning experience.
In her school in Mexico, she learned a more complicated method of putting numbers in order, which confused her as a child. She had exercises which gave her a list of numbers in a random pattern and asked her to identify the missing numbers. She had to realize the pattern of the numbers and then fill in the missing numbers.
Her daughter is given a series of numbers in a pattern, told to identify the pattern first, and then asked to fill in the missing numbers.
The step-by-step version of the exercise is much easier for her daughter to understand, and a better way of learning math, Perez said.
It’s good for students to be exposed to different strategies for learning, Martinez responded. Each student learns in a different way, even within a set of siblings, she said.
“Do it in the way that feels comfortable to the student,” Martinez said. It’s not just parents getting confused; sometimes Martinez uses YouTube videos when she has to teach in a way that feels unfamiliar, she reassured parents.
Growing up in Ecuador, Martinez spoke Spanish at home and attended an English immersion school taught by American teachers. That’s how she knows the importance of keeping both languages — and of Spanish-speaking parents continuing to read with their children in Spanish, even after they are learning in English.
“Parents are very intimidated,” she said, “because in their home countries, they look up to the teachers. They don’t feel they can approach them.”
Since she got to Hill Central five years ago, teachers have done a good job reaching out to parents of ELLs and being responsive to their specific needs. Thursday’s packed meeting is an example of that, she said.
Perez walked into the meeting worried, but left with a sense of relief — and hope. “When we figure out the homework, we’ll do it together,” she said.