S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Learning different languages can open doors once closed , and as more students across California enroll in dual immersion programs , we'll talk about the benefits of being bilingual. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. We'll explain what goes into a dual immersion program.
S2: Children have nothing to lose by being educated in a dual language program. They have only something to gain.
S1: Then we'll tell you how these programs not only teach a different language , but also preserve culture. That's ahead on Midday Edition. School is back in session. Many kids across San Diego County are enrolled in dual language programs. Usually the goal is Biliteracy. Research shows that bilingualism is associated with improved memory and multitasking skills. Still , more programs are needed to meet the state's goal to have most California students bilingual by 2040. Joining me now to discuss this is Maria Aragon , assistant professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. Professor Aragon , welcome. Hi.
S3: Great to be here.
S1: Great to have you here. Also , Sarah Hernandez , she's chair and associate professor of dual language and English learner education at San Diego State University. Professor Hernandez , welcome to you.
S4: Thank you so much.
S1: And Veronica Lopez Mendez , director of dual language programs at San Diego Unified. Welcome to you , Veronica.
S2: Happy to be here today.
S1: So glad to have you all here , Maria. I'm going to start with you.
S3: I think the first one is that students who are enrolled in bilingual programs don't just have the opportunity to learn another language , but they learn in that language , right ? Meaning they are able to acquire complex academic and literacy skills in a range of subject areas , from social studies to science , math , language arts. Um , and in addition , as you mentioned in the intro , there's also a lot of cognitive benefits that have been found to being bilingual. Right ? Uh , associated with executive functioning , memory , meta linguistic awareness , creative thinking. So there's a host of , uh , different academic and cognitive benefits. The other piece of it I think that is important to highlight is also the socio emotional benefits , especially for students who are classified as English learners. So the fact that they are enrolled. They can be enrolled in programs where their language is represented in instruction , and they get to build on their linguistic and cultural expertise as part of their everyday schooling can have really important advantages for them in terms of identity development , in terms of feeling connected to their communities , building their confidence as learners , and then also , of course , their long term academic achievements and prospects for going on to college and graduating from high school.
S1: And I definitely want to dig more into how these learning another language can help one connect with their culture. Um , but this next question is for Sarah. Sarah. Of course , there's a couple of different models of language programs in schools. I mean , you hear about one way programs , two way programs , dual immersion.
S4: And we like to think of it in the field as there are both strong and weak programs. And what I mean by that is that if a program has the goal of bilingualism and by literacy , we think of those as as stronger versions of bilingual education and dual language programs are an example of those strong programs. Um , under the dual language umbrella , we have a two way model , which is where you have students who come to the classroom , uh , with a home language other than English or English , um , as their first language. We also have a one way model where students speak the same home language.
S1:
S2: They were developed as the gold standard for Ells. We want to educate them in a system that not only values and adds on English , um , but really looks at lifting their culture , language and identity. These programs also benefit English speakers because they acquire Spanish as their second language. Um , and we also have in our , in our county immersion programs , which are programs that are designed for English speakers to learn a second language. Um , they tend to , to not have as many English learners. And so we really try to lift and elevate those that do , such as our two way programs and our developmental bilingual programs.
S1:
S2: One is called a 9010 instructional model. And so in this model , instruction begins 90% of the day in Spanish or in the target language. It could be Mandarin , it could be French , it could be Arabic , Korean , German , um. And the students are instructed in all of their content areas. In that language , 10% of the day is in English. As they move up , um , they add on a little bit more English every year until they get to 5050. So 50% of the day is in Spanish and 50% of the day is in English. Um , we see the most benefit coming from 9010 programs in terms of language acquisition , um , and also in terms of academic outcomes on standardized tests of English. The second model that's very common in the state of California and here in San Diego , is a 5050 program , which is a little bit different in terms of how literacy is taught. So in these programs , literacy is taught simultaneously. That means that kids are learning how to read and write in English and in Spanish at the same time. They both have the same academic goals in terms of bilingualism and by literacy. Um , but 9010 programs yield higher levels of Spanish academic language um , after they've completed their coursework up to eighth grade.
S1: Also , you know , I'm curious , what languages um , are you all teaching most of ? Because I could travel around the world. And anytime I go to another country , people there know at least five different languages.
S2: Yes , we we talk about that often. It's like , I think we're one of the only countries in the world that only educates our children in one language. California has a progressive law that aims to change that. And the most um , um , common language that we teach in the state is Spanish , um , in San Diego County , though we also have French , German and Mandarin. And across the state there's even more languages represented , and it's excellent.
S1: Um , Maria , earlier you talked about how bilingual education can enhance a student's sense of identity. Tell me more about that. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So we know , you know , a lot of our students here in the area come into our school speaking a language other than English. And the vast majority of those speak Spanish as their home language. But the way our schools have been designed is to primarily promote the use of English. Right. And that's also the case in our broader society. So these students often come in feeling like Spanish or whatever language they speak in their home is only the language of the home or of their communities , right , and has no place in these broader public spaces. And so really having instruction and education in their language , it can be extremely powerful for them in terms of seeing themselves represented in this way , oftentimes by their teachers , in the language that is taught , in the kinds of resources that are available in classrooms , books , activities , um , holidays that are celebrated. Right. So I think this cultural piece is really essential to dual language programs. And it's also really at the core of the goal of these programs , right ? It's not just about teaching by literacy and teaching academic skills in two languages , but also about generating this broader cultural awareness and valuing the cultural knowledge and experiences that these students bring with them into the schools.
S1: And , Sarah , I understand that your kids are actually enrolled in a dual language program.
S4: My daughter just , um , was promoted from eighth grade this last year from a dual language K-8 school where , um , she received a five on her Spanish AP test. I'm very proud , mama , because we lost Spanish and French in my family , which is a big reason why I do this work of preparing bilingual teachers , um , with the critical consciousness of doing important work in , um , in schools where bilingual education has always been a hot , hot topic. Um , I my son is currently in sixth grade and both of them have had very positive experiences. One of the things I think about is their their access to these programs as as children who learned English in their home. So they're privileged children , meaning that both of my kids , they're mixed race , their mom's a professor at San Diego State , and they are perceived as as mixed race. My son has blonde hair , and so their bilingualism is very much celebrated , and I'm grateful for that. And one of the things I think about is how do we celebrate the bilingualism of students who don't , who don't come from middle class backgrounds like my own ? And I think , you know , to reiterate what our what my colleagues here have been saying , how do we make sure that we that our English learners , our students that are classified because of their home language , is a language other than English ? How do they get access to these high quality programs , and how do we make it more equitable across the state ? Because yes , my children should have access to , but not at the expense of other people's children who deserve this type of education as well , because they they already come with a language other than English. So I think there's a lot of equity issues in the ways in which these programs are being implemented. And , and I think that's how we can address this issue too , is by having these conversations candidly.
S5: Well , I.
S1: Want to know more about that.
S4: So we're behind states like Texas , Wisconsin , Illinois. There are states that are actually providing access to their English learners for these dual language programs. They have much higher percentages than we do in the state , even though California is a leader in providing really the vision for for multilingualism for all children in the state. Global 2030 The English Learner Roadmap. So we have these initiatives , but we're we're falling behind in um , in the ways in which we're ensuring that our English learners have access. And also oftentimes when we are in these two way models where we have families who come from low income backgrounds , immigrant families , usually of color , integrated with students , um , with children like , you know , with families like my own , with more privilege. Oftentimes the same types of inequities that are happening in our larger society play out in schools. So who has access to resources whose voices are being heard ? Right ? Are the parents of our English learners being heard beyond the Elac meetings ? Right. The English Learner Advisory committees , are they actually meaningfully involved and engaged ? And I think they are in a lot of schools , but I don't think that's happening statewide. And so I think centering and elevating the ways in which we serve our most vulnerable students , those that are racialized , that are lower income and that have that English learner label are and are critical when we talk about any type of education and in this case especially dual language education.
S1:
S2: Um , we are coming out of , um , laws where we were requiring students to become assimilated into English only , and it's taking his time to recover from that. We're like in recovery phase right now. Um , educating our families on the value of having their students be bilingual , on the value of having an additive model of education versus one that was subtractive. And so it's going to take all of us from classroom teachers to the media to our professors , um , all of the practitioners , to really help parents understand that their children have nothing to lose by being educated in a dual language program , they have only something to gain. So it's really a call to action to all of us.
S1: Coming up , how teachers with lived experience add an extra benefit to dual immersion programs.
S4: Their Spanish or their Arabic wasn't welcome in their classroom. When we have histories of English only policies , we have to redress that harm.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. On today's show , we are discussing dual language programs in the San Diego region and the wide ranging benefits of picking up multiple languages among one's peers. I'm speaking with Maria Aragon , assistant professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. Also , Sara Hernandez , she's chair and associate professor of dual language and English learner education at San Diego State University. And then lastly , Veronica Lopez Mendez , director of dual language programs at San Diego Unified. Maria , you know , Veronica just alluded to this before the break. Let's turn to the history of bilingual programs across the state.
S3: So it's a proposition that was passed in 1998. Um , it was championed by conservatives , particularly , uh , a businessman named Ron. And , um , and one thing that happened with the passing of 2 to 7 is that , you know , it was passed during an English only kind of era. Following a strong social justice push for bilingual education and expansion of multilingual programs throughout our state that were then reversed. And so what followed after the passing of proposition 227 was almost 20 years of English only education in our state , so it cannot be overstated how detrimental that has been for our students , for our teachers , and for our communities , especially in a state like California , where , as Doctor Hernandez was mentioning earlier , you know , we have championed bilingual education. A lot of the people who started thinking about how to even design these programs and make them happen in partnership with communities are here and we're here. Um , and so , you know , those 20 years have led to a lot of consequences , right ? We have , uh , more than one generation of students affected by this. We also have , um , a whole generation of teachers who did not have the chance to have access to equitable , multilingual education. So now , when we are trying to recruit teachers of color in particular , and from the communities who would most benefit from these programs , we're often finding that those teachers and teacher candidates did not have the chance to learn in their language. And often , in fact , you know , we're told that it was detrimental to even speak their home language , right ? So , um , so it was highly damaging , you know , in , uh , 2016 , we reversed this through proposition 58 , uh , fortunately with overwhelming support. Um , but again , you know , we are still as , um , we were just discussing , recovering from those almost 20 years of having a very strong push for English only in our state. So , you know , now we're seeing again , we have a teacher shortage , but we especially have a shortage of bilingual teachers , um , you know , teachers , even those who are very much interested in going back into their communities and giving back. And , you know , our Latino and Latino teachers , Latinx educators , um , they are often in situations where it's it's not an easy job for them , right , to have to go in teaching under a model that they didn't experience , teaching in a language in which they did not receive instruction. Right. So it it causes a host of kind of trickle down effects that lead to , you know , the place we find ourselves in now , which is , you know , again , an opportunity to grow and to continue to direct resources at these programs. But we're still behind in comparison to other states.
S1:
S3: You know , we see a lot of advocacy work in the district and the region around working , partnering with families and communities , having those complicated conversations around stigmas that , you know , very real stigmas that people have experienced around their language use and their language practices. So I don't want us to discredit or to judge people for feeling like the only way for their children to succeed is to learn English , because that has been the experience of many communities of color in this country , right ? The idea that in order to succeed , the only way is to assimilate as quickly as you can and to learn English and give your children the best opportunity to learn English they can. Right ? So it's really undoing , um , a long history of this deficit , thinking around different languages and the value of different languages , which is really still shocking to me , given you know who we are in this country and in this state , right ? Like our demographics , who the students in our classroom are , the fact that we're located on the border with Mexico , right ? Um , but it's very real , right. So I think a lot of it is to continue that advocacy work. And the other piece of it is resources. You know , we can plan all we want and have policies in place , but if there's no money behind those policies , then , you know change is limited , right ? We need to be able to recruit teachers , train them , fund more programs , expand them. You know , the work that they're doing in the district that Veronica is doing around expanding the the pathways from for dual language learners all the way through high school. You know , there's a lot of , you know , resources needed in order to be able to do that work. Right. So I think that's a big piece of it , is really being mindful about how what kind of support is needed to do this work effectively. Yeah.
S1:
S2: Um , but that was due in part to the advocacy of parents. So it was parents who said , our children have the right to be educated in their primary language , and we're going to exert that right within the district. We saw a huge growth in our dual language programs. Um , ones. Proposition 58 passed. We opened up 11 programs. We've opened up 11 programs since the passage of that law. And so it really just gave , I think , permission for districts and boards of education to look at expansion of their programs. And I know that I work for a district that's very , very much in support of expansion of dual language programs. What we have to do now is work on targeted recruitment of where we're going to put those programs , because they need to be in populations that serve English learners. We serve 47% of our students are Latino or Latinx. Background in our district. Our district serves over 95,000 students. We need to be focusing our efforts on ensuring that when we do look at programs and we do open up new programs that we're doing so in these highly dense English learner populations. Wow.
S5: Wow.
S1: Well , Maria , if you could talk about the importance of training and really retaining culturally competent teachers when it comes to these programs , I mean.
S3: It is um , it is to me , you know , given the work that I do , it it feels essential. Right ? I think it makes , you know , there's a lot of research documenting how important it is , especially for students of color who have to have teachers who share their backgrounds. Right. Um , and as we know , the vast majority of our teacher force in California and throughout the country remains , uh , white. Um , and it's been challenging to recruit teachers of color , in part because , um , their work is harder. So they are often , uh , placed in districts or communities where , you know , schools have fewer resources , where there are greater challenges , right ? And sometimes they also find themselves being the only one from that particular background in that community , right ? Or in that teacher , um , teacher force. So , you know , there are a host of , um , challenges that teachers of color face , which makes it hard to , you know , sometimes entice them. Uh , nevertheless , you know , what we see increasingly is a lot of , uh , teachers are , you know , people from these communities who feel like it is the best way to make an impact is to become a teacher and to give back and to work with students like themselves who would greatly benefit from bilingual education. So , you know , I think there's a lot of efforts to partner with community organizations. The district is doing a lot of work. I know , um , and increasingly we're trying to develop also pathways so that , you know , both with high school students who are interested in careers in education , as well as with undergraduate students of color who have curiosity , or who are in an education major , or who are taking education classes and trying to expose them to , you know , the possibility of pursuing a career in education with supports. We're also trying to , you know , I know many people are working on providing scholarships , residency programs , providing good funding , you know , while they do their teacher education and credentialing. Um , but again , it is work. And , um , and it's not an easy job. Um , but we are hopeful and I think we're increasingly seeing , you know , a lot of it makes , you know , one of the favorite things about my job is getting to see teachers do this work , and especially the impact that it can have for those teachers of color , especially our Latinx teachers , to return to their communities or to be in a community similar to the one that they themselves grew up in , and making that difference for their students. So , um , you know , I'm heartened we're heading in the right direction in that sense. But again , it will take a concerted effort to expand opportunities and supports for those teachers.
S1: Well , Sarah , you know , a large focus of your research is bilingual teacher education across the US Mexico border.
S4: And before I get to the the binational perspective , I'd like to just build on what Maria Professor Aragon shared , because , um , it's connected , right ? You can't really separate the work at the border without thinking about bilingual teacher education here on the US side , first and foremost. And that is when we think of the the pathways that we're building. Right. Who has access to teacher credentialing ? Oftentimes , students who can go into a credential program right away aren't thinking about working multiple jobs like some of us did. I'm thinking personally when I went through my credentialing program. So when we're talking about teachers of color , when we're talking about , you know , future bilingual educators. We're talking about a group of of individuals who oftentimes come from low income backgrounds , who oftentimes have navigated a system as we just spoke about , that didn't see them fully or hear them fully , meaning that their Spanish or their Arabic wasn't welcome in their classroom. When we have histories of English only policies , we have to redress that harm in terms of the binational work where we're partnering. Um , and UCSD and Sdsu work with colleagues in Baja California and Mexico , specifically in Tijuana and Ensenada and Mexicali , to support binational teacher professional development and also pre-service training. And what we do is , in addition to preparing teachers that are bilingual by literate bicultural , we're preparing them to think of the binational perspective , right , and understanding the students that we share across borders so that they understand and are aware of the two different systems , and what we mean by by students that we share across the border. Students who have experienced schooling in Mexico and have also experienced schooling in the United States. And there are different reasons why students move across across borders. But one of the things we know is that a more recent phenomenon in Mexico , or at least in Baja , is that students who appear to be of Mexican origin , who were educated in U.S. schools are now in Mexico. In Mexican schools don't necessarily have the levels of Spanish they need to to be successful , and their teachers don't necessarily have the pedagogy or the teaching tools to be able to make sure that the content that they're teaching is comprehensible and accessible to those students. And so we're we're working with educators on both sides so that they can understand this sociopolitical context of by national education and the students that were serving , but also better understanding how to serve them regardless of what school system they enter. And so we're continuing. One of the initiatives is also project by National Project Glad. And this is where we bring teachers to the border to learn about each other's systems , to engage in one of the best professional development models for multilingual learners , and then to stay in touch so that they can also support each other with best practices , whether they're a teacher in a dual language school here in San Diego , or they're a teacher teaching English in Tijuana.
S5: And I want to get.
S1: Back to culture now. You know , a language can be lost from a family within just one generation. Veronica , talk more about the power of reclaiming language.
S2: You know , we see this often even in students that are entering our school system right now who are of Latino background , whose parents only speak Spanish in the home , but yet the child refuses to , um , they have the influence of the mainstream English society and they only want to speak English. That's why these programs are so critical. They're critical because it helps families not only ensure that they don't have language loss , but it helps to build the family unit , right. It helps to ensure that the family will stay strong through the hardest parts of a child's life. Adolescence. Um , imagine having a child that you're parenting and you can't communicate with them. Um , so it's really highly critical that we have opportunities for students that might be hesitant or might not have a lot of , um , Spanish under their belt to regain recapture , re-engage in becoming bilingual , um , not only for the now , but also for the future. Um , I often talk to families who say , um , you know , my child is still a little reluctant. I'm not sure this is the right place for them. And and my my question to them is what was what was the goal when you enrolled your child in this program ? Why did you enroll your child in this program ? And the parents were will usually say , I want them to be bilingual. I'm bilingual. And I say , then you have to stay the course because you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Um , and your children will thank you. They will thank you. It might not be when they're five or 6 or 7 , but surely when they're entering college career , um , whatever path they choose in life , they're going to see their bilingualism as an asset.
S1: And I think you touch on , um , a lot of motivations behind enrolling children in dual language programs.
S3: So I think we do have different motivations in terms of , um , as we were talking about , we've been focusing a lot on , um , our Latinx families because they are so , uh , represented here in our local community. Um , I think for them , for many parents , it is a concern that they want to keep up those lines of communication within the family that it is important to preserve their cultural and linguistic identities that they want , and that they see the value for their children of being able to continue to develop their bilingualism over the course of their lives. Right. And that this is a meaningful part of something that they want to pass on. I think , of course , when we speak about our English dominant families , right. Oftentimes those motivations are slightly different. You know , they're thinking more about maybe , um , cultural awareness , the opportunities that their children might gain in terms of academics , in terms of later , you know , professional opportunities and otherwise. Um , but I think , you know , increasingly , as the discourse around these programs is changing and people are becoming more aware of the many , many benefits for all kinds of students , I think there's increasingly we're seeing more interest. Right. I think there's more demand for them , more interest. And parents are thinking about this as something really positive that they can do for their children. Um , but again , you know , I think there's still that piece that we were talking about before about raising awareness about those who have maybe are still a bit apprehensive , who still have concerns about how these programs might impact their , their child's or their children's opportunities in the long term. Um , and again , that's where the research is so important because we're seeing increasingly , you know , the long term studies are just showing that , again , it's not only gains in the partner language , but it's also increased , uh , English language development. Right. Um , academic , um , academic skills across subject areas. Right. There's all kinds of long term benefits in terms of , you know , academics , which is what parents are often prioritizing when they're making these decisions for their children.
S1: And , Veronica , before I let you go , I really want to talk about the state's goal to have the majority of California students bilingual by 2040.
S2: I think the the gift that this proposition gave us was an invitation , an invitation to ensure that we were thinking about how we were going to grow pathways , how we were going to go programs. Um , currently in San Diego Unified , we have 28 dual language programs that serve , um , a variety of populations in three different languages. We have 7900 of our students that are participating in these programs. Not nearly enough. Um , our Board of Education has really called upon us to strategically look at communities who where we could see benefit to these programs to serve English learners and working with those communities to begin programs as early as next year , um , and into the 2627 school year , when you grow and you open a program , you start with the community. You cannot build without them. It you build for them. Um , and so you really need to understand the typology of the students that you have. Um , how many minority and majority language students you have in that community so that you can determine a strong model and then you need to work on teacher recruitment , right. And ensuring that you have a strong pathway of teachers lined up. And then the growth is slow. You start one grade level at a time , um , typically in universal TK kindergarten and you grow until you can build a pathway all the way into high schools. So San Diego Unified is very proud of the efforts that we've made thus far , and look forward to continuing the growth of our dual language programs with full support of our Board of Education and our superintendent.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with Maria Aragon , assistant professor of education studies at UC San Diego. Professor Aragon , thank you so much.
S3: Thank you for having me.
S1: Also , Sarah Hernandez , she's chair and associate professor of dual language and English learner education at San Diego State University. Thank you so much , professor.
S5: Thank you.
S1: And Veronica Lopez Mendez , director of dual language programs at San Diego Unified. Thank you so much for joining us.
S2: It was a pleasure.
S1: That's our show for today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch KPBS Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening.
