Some Thoughts on Bilingual Education

For those of you who don't know, I am currently working as a substitute bilingual interventionist in a K-4 dual language program at a local elementary school. Now, you're probably wondering "what is a bilingual interventionist and what do they do?" The answer to this question is a bit complicated but I will try my best to give a good explanation. 

As a bilingual interventionist I mainly work with small groups of students and provide extra reading intervention/assistance in Spanish. My students spend half of the day learning in English and the other half learning in Spanish. During the Spanish half of the day, I go into each classroom for about a half hour to work with groups of students and help them develop reading strategies, comprehension skills, and phonetic awareness. 

Now that I've briefly explained my role, I'm going to move on and share a few things that I have learned and observed about bilingual education over the past few weeks. 

1) Access to books and other literacy resources can significantly impact a child's learning and language development

     I have noticed a big difference between my students who read or practiced their letter sounds over the summer and my students who hadn't picked up a book since last May. Those who didn't practice at all over the summer have regressed and lost some of their reading skills, whereas those who read at home were able to pick up where they left off at the end of last school year. After seeing the difference that summer reading has made in my students' growth, I am so thankful that my mom made me read and practice my "Times Tables" every day during the summer when I was growing up. 
    I also know that each of my students comes from a different background/home life, which may makes it impossible for them to have equal access to books and other resources at home. This issue has been on my mind a lot this week and it breaks my heart to know that not all of my students have equal opportunities for education and academic growth. Therefore, I really want to use these next few months to invest in my students' lives and hopefully encourage them to develop a "love of learning" so that they will one day be able to advocate for themselves and their right to recieve an education.  

2) Language interference is a real thing

     As someone who is bilingual, I have experienced language interference plenty of times. Simply put, language interference is when a person's understanding of one language impacts his or her understanding of another language, which results in interference/transference between the two languages (it can be both positive or negative). For example, the other day I tried to write the word syllable and I accidentally spelled it "sillable." The English-speaking part of my brain immediately recognized that the word was spelled incorrectly, but I couldn't figure out why. After thinking about it for about 10 seconds I realized that syllable is spelled with a y, not an i. I am convinced that this happened because I had been using the Spanish word for syllable (sílaba) all day and my brain had combined the two words/languages. 
     I also see my students dealing with language interference at times, but I'm comforted in knowing that it's a normal part of the language-learning process. I know that although their little brains may occasionally mix up their two languages, they are continuing to learn and grow in their knowledge of both Spanish and English. 

3) Standardized vowels in Spanish are AMAZING

      For anyone who has ever learned to read/pronounce words in English, it can be utterly confusing at first. In English we have long vowels and short vowels, and we have words like fear and dear that sound like each other, but don't sound like pear or bear. This lack of consistency means that we often need to teach kids how to memorize the correct pronunciation of each word because the words don't follow a logical pattern. 

      On the other hand, vowels in Spanish have only one sound* (a = ah, e = eh, i = ee, o = oh, u = oo), which makes it so much easier to help kids learn how to read. Once they learn their letter sounds they can (somewhat) easily decipher syllable sounds and later on they can begin to read longer words with multiple syllables (this doesn't necessarily imply that they understand what they are reading, but at least they can look at a word and know how to pronounce it). 
       As I've started to teach my younger kids the vowel sounds in Spanish, I've realized that the standardized vowel sounds are super helpful. Once they learn how each letter/syllable sounds, it's much easier for them to begin reading and seems like there's a lot less guessing/confusion/uncertainty. 

*there are some exceptions when Spanish vowel sounds change slightly (i.e. gü +  vowel) 

In conclusion...

These are just a few of the things that I have learned over the past few weeks. I know that the Lord is using this job and this time to prepare me for the work that He has called me to do in Spain, and I am so thankful for how He is challenging me to grow and develop my teaching and language skills. I am so thankful that my coworkers have been so supportive of me and I am blessed to be teaching in school that values both bilingualism and literacy. Although I was nervous to work with elementary school kids, I have found that they are often adorable and hilarious, and they have already taught me much about myself. I am very excited about the next few months and I can't wait to see how the Lord will continue to use me and challenge me in the coming weeks.