The Magellan International School will open in Fall of 2009 with K-2 and offer an International Baccalaureate guided English-Spanish immersion curriculum.
Mariposas Spanish School offers Spanish classes at many existing preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools as well as a summer camp.
The Magellan International School (MIS) is set to open up in Austin in August of 2009 with Pre-Primary and K-2nd grade. MIS is a private, not-for-profit school which aims to educate the children of Austin, Texas to become competitive Global Citizens for the 21st Century. The school will feature an International Baccalaureate curriculum framework that will be implemented in an English/Spanish immersion model. The school will also require Mandarin starting in the 3rd grade. KVUE television did a nice story on the school yesterday. Check it out HERE.
Bill Richardson, the current Governor of New Mexico, was appointed by President-Elect Obama as his new Secretary of Commerce today. Bill is the son of a Spanish woman and a Nicaraguan born American and grew up in Mexico City – rumor has it that he attended the American School Foundation – my own alma mater!
While accepting his new post as Secretary of Commerce, Bill spoke in superb English and Spanish and, in my opinion, exemplified the future of America from a linguistic and social perspective. If we can deliver high quality English-Spanish dual language education we will be assured to see many more “Bill Richardson”s who proudly display their dual heritage and dual language speaking abilities.
On a lighter note, it just so happens that Bill was on my commuter flight back from Acapulco in September when I was returning to Austin from my 20 year high school reunion. He was still sporting the beard that President-Elect Obama is “deeply disappointed” in seeing shaved off though!
Dick Martin, author of the book “Rebuilding Brand America” and former Vice President of Public Relations and Brand Managenent at AT&T, was recently quoted by CNN in an article entitled “Obama poised to rebrand America, experts say“. In the article, which discusses things that the new president can do to reestablish the US “brand” around the world, Mr. Martin suggests that Mr. Obama should promote education reform to “make sure young Americans are citizens of the world”. Mr. Martin specifically calls out teaching world history and languages as a way to achieve this. This exact vision is what the new Magellan International School, set to open in Austin in Fall of 2009, has as part of its core mission. It seems like many in the US are realizing the importance of international and multilingual education. I only hope that, with the help of schools like The Magellan International School, this realization becomes a reality all over the country.
SPEAKER: Dr. Benjamin Kramer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership Program, Texas State University – San Marcos
TOPIC: Ben is the former Principal of Mathews Elementary, a diverse public elementary school with 3 bilingual programs (Spanish, Chinese, and Korean). In 1998, he launched an investigation into the opening of a dual-language Spanish-English track within the school. He’ll share the groundwork they laid for its implementation, including an investigation into the reasons why previous dual-immersion programs were not effective in Austin ISD, and what ultimately caused his school to halt its plans.
LOCATION: Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Board Room. 210 Barton Springs Road, Suite 400, Austin, TX 78704 [MAP]
To add further evidence to the importance that bilingual and bicultural education will have in the future of our country the Pew Research Center’s “Pew Hispanic Center“ today released a new report that shows that since 2000 Hispanics accounted for half of the U.S. population growth. In a very nice interactive map that is available on their web site once can see that Travis County exhibited the 18th fastest growth rate for in terms of net Hispanic population growth.
Sitting right in a quaint and bohemian neighborhood next to UC Berkeley is the Escuela Bilingüe Internacional, a Pre-K, K, and early elementary school that focuses on English-Spanish dual language immersion education. The school’s curriculum is structured according to the International Baccalaureate’sPrimary Years Program and is taught by a group of native Spanish speaking teachers from across Latin America and Spain. I first learned about EBI about a year ago when I started researching dual language schools in the US. After reading about them on their web page I immediately cold called and asked to speak to the then Head of School. We immediately hit it off after discovering that she had at one point attended UT Austin and that she was open to working with me to help advance the cause of dual language education in Centra; Texas. One year went by with not much in terms of on going communication as the then Head of School had moved to Spain shortly after I had first spoken to her. But, as luck would have it, I discovered during my on going dialogue with the American School in Mexico City that their director of Elementary School, Jon Fulk, had just recently decided to move to the US and be the new Head of School at the EBI! This gave me new impetus to reconnect with EBI. I scheduled a visit to the school while I was in San Francisco attending a conference on other business on 11 September 2008 and was able to meet Jon, the staff, and tour the school.
T-Shirts offered to students and parents at the EBI
Perhaps most importantly I got to meet the kids. A very large majority of the kids at EBI come from families that do not speak Spanish at home. To my delight, when I would run into these kids in the hall, I could hear them speak wonderfully good Spanish with their teachers. These kids, most of them 7 years of age or younger, clearly proved that a good Spanish immersion program can quickly get kids up to speed understanding and speaking the language without much difficulty. To this end, EBI uses a near 100% Spanish immersion for kids in Pre-K, K, and 1st grade. They do, of course, use English as appropriate; especially when there are complex concepts (such as the rules of behaviour at the school) that need to be explained and there needs to be certainty on the part of the staff that the information has gotten across clearly. As kids advance through elementary the percentage of Spanish decreases to the point where there is a 50-50 split between the two languages by the time kids get to third grade.
In my discussions with Jon I also learned that the school, now in its 3rd year of operation, is adopting the IB Primary Years Program as the framework for its curriculum. It will take EBI a few years to be officially authorized by IB and then recognized as an IB World School but Jon believes that the effort is definitely worth it as he has seen it be successful at other schools that he has been involved with.
One other thing that I discovered while at the EBI is that each community has its own quirks that need to be considered as a school is launched and operated. For example, the wonderful families in Oakland and Berkeley insist that only organic food be served at the school! I am sure Austin, with quirks of its own, will place its own needs on dual language schools. Perhaps that only Austin music be played in the classroom or that food catering to kids be Whole Foods Organic Tex-Mex!
SPEAKER/TOPIC: Erin Defosse, founder of Austin Bilingüe, will provide an update on the status of the various dual-language elementary school initiatives in Austin.
The American School Foundation, A.C. of Mexico City
Earlier this month I visited the American School in Mexico City – the same school that I graduated from high school at back in the late 80’s. This year marks the 120th anniversary of the school making it one of the oldest schools of it kind in the world and part of the global network of American Schools that pepper the world’s most important cities. American Schools can be found in most major cities in Latin America as well as in places like London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, and Tokyo . American Schools are also found all across Mexico in cities like Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Since its inception the American School of Mexico City has catered to the American expat community in Mexico City as well as many of the Mexican families that want to have their kids experience an international education within the context of dual-language education where English is the primary language of instruction. The school, recognized as a International Baccalaureate World School, allows children to graduate with both English and Spanish certified diplomas. In fact, when I graduated from there some 20 years ago I obtained both a US High School diploma as well as a diploma certified by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). To do this I had to take all of the courses required of students in the US as well as those needed in Mexico to obtain a Mexican High School diploma. Although this might at first seem like an unattainable goal requiring students to take 2x the course load the reality is that it isn’t. Why? Because one of the great facets of dual-language education is that it is predicated on the fact that core subjects can be taught in one language and that these will automatically convert over to the other language without having to take the course twice. In other words, if you take Math in one language it is not necessary to take the whole course again in the second language. As long as math concepts are embedded into coursework offered in the second language the students will make a seamless conversion of their skills.
The Middle School Building at the American School in Mexico City
The net effect of this methodology is that students graduating from the American School achieve academic literacy in BOTH English and Spanish at the highest standards. In some ways, the American School of Mexico City is a mirror image of what we need to have right here in Austin – a school that puts forth a mission of making our kids global citizens and giving them education with high academic standards that ensures academic level literacy in English and Spanish.
At a recent campaign stop in Powder Springs, GA Barack Obama ignited a firestorm amongst bloggers and others in the media by declaring that “every child should speak more than one language” and that parents should ensure that their kids are bilingual – specifically in English and Spanish. Reaction to the comment was not unexpected with those on one side voicing their opposition to the concept on the basis of an “English first” idealogy and those on the other side agreeing that multilingual kids have an advantage. See the video for yourself and make your own judgement. Regardless of the firestorm that ensued, the fact that bilingualism is now a topic that is being covered in the national media and being spoken about by a presidential candidate is a sign that this issue is now becoming a timely and relevant issue that we must address in our society.
At the fifth Austin Bilingue meeting held on Wednesday, June 25th we had the fortune of hearing from Dr. Deborah Palmer, Assistant Professor of Bilingual and Bicultural Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Deb’s presentation entitled “Educating for Equity in Dual Language Settings” was an eye opening overview of the challenges (and opportunities) that face dual language education. Of particular interest were Deb’s introduction to the notions of Additive and Subtractive bilingual education, where Additive refers to a bilingual education where kids leave with “more” than what they came in with (e.g. Spanish speaking kid who exits the program knowing both Spanish and English) and Subtractive education refers to one where kids leave with “less” than what they came in with (e.g. Spansh speaking kid who exits the program having lost the command of Spanish but now knowing English).
Deb discussed how the US has developed as one of the only monolingual societies in the world and how the ideology surrounding monolingualism (which permeats the culture in the US) makes it difficult for second languages to grow and thrive. To overcome this, Deb spoke to us about various approaches around two-way immersion with the goals of obtaining biliteracy, academic achievement for all students, and cross-cultural understanding.
All of these topics were then placed into context when Deb talked about her own Ph.D. work in bilingual education. During her Ph.D. research work Deb spent countless hours at a two-way immersion school in California observing the interaction between teachers and students as well as between the students themselves. Her observations provided her with key insights into the role that each of these play in the success or failure of an given two-way immersion program.
Finally, Deb introduced us to an exciting new program at UT called “Proyecto Maestría” that will help foster the growth of bilingualism in the Austin area. The project, the result of a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, focuses on improving the quality and quantity of highly skilled Bilingual and ESL teachers in the Austin metropolitan area, promote teacher retention, and improve the educational outcome for the region’s growing population of English Language Learners.
The Magellan International School (MIS) is set to open up in Austin in August of 2009 with Pre-Primary and K-2nd grade. MIS is a private, not-for-profit school which aims to educate the children of Austin, Texas to become competitive Global Citizens for the 21st Century. The school will feature an International Baccalaureate curriculum framework that will be implemented in an English/Spanish immersion model. The school will also require Mandarin starting in the 3rd grade. KVUE television did a nice story on the school yesterday. Check it out HERE.
