English and Spanish Speakers Learn Together, and From Each Other

This is the VOA Special English Education Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | facebook.com/voalearningenglish In the last ten years, hundreds of American schools have begun to offer a new way to teach foreign languages. This method is called dual or two-way immersion. Here is how it works at London Towne Elementary School in Centreville, Virginia, outside Washington. In some classes, only Spanish is spoken, even during the Pledge of Allegiance -- a morning tradition for American schoolchildren. In one second grade class the children learn math and other subjects completely in Spanish. Later in the day they learn only in English. Half of the children are from families that speak Spanish at home. The other half are native English speakers. Myra Olmeda is the teacher. She says when both these groups come together, they are learning from one another which is very good. Helen Arzola teaches the youngest children. She says a child before age eight is a language-learning machine. So this is the best time to learn a language.She says her kindergarteners from English-speaking families may have never heard Spanish before. And she says children from Spanish-speaking families benefit from learning in their own language.Helen Arzola says the goal of the dual-language program is to teach low-income Hispanic children English -- good English, social English and academic English. But some people are still not sure about these programs. They say bilingual education has not always taught Hispanic students enough English. London Towne Elementary is in Fairfax County, Virginia. The county also offers immersion programs in French, German and Japanese. One sixth grader at London Towne says it's not like traditional teaching. Another student says she likes to learn other languages. But a national survey found that in recent years foreign language teaching decreased in public elementary and middle schools. Fewer schools teach French, German, Russian or Japanese. Some schools say a federal education law from the last administration has hurt language teaching. This law only requires testing of progress in math and reading. Schools also face language teacher shortages, and now budget cuts caused by the economy. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video of this report by Jerome Socolovsky at voaspecialenglish.com. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 17Jun2010)