On Friday, January 18 I visited the Awty International School in Houston to learn more about the history of the school and how it came about, its mission and goals, its current programs and curriculum, the composition of its student body, how it is funded, etc. etc. While at Awty I spent time visiting with Dr. David Watson, Head of School, and Ms. Chantal Duke, assistant to Dr. Watson. Upon my arrival I first met with Ms. Duke who I soon learned was French but having grown up most of her life outside of France, primarily in the former French colonies in east Africa. While in Africa she married a US diplomat and has spent her life with her family all over the world. Dr. Watson, a Brit from Manchester, has been Head of School for a few years and before that headed up a for-profit international school in Malaysia.
First of all I have to make on thing clear to everyone: the Awty International School is a MAJOR operation. I learned while there that the Awty International School is the second largest international school in the United States with a total of over 1200 students and a budget approaching $20 million dollars! The school operates as a non-profit and gets a substantial majority of its revenue from tuition and fees (around $15k/student/year all said and done) but also counts people like Fayez Sarofim as sponsors. The school covers pre-K through 12 and currently expects to graduate around 85 students from high school.The school is in a major expansion after having received significant contributions from Mr. Sarofin, selling a piece of land to the State of Texas to allow the State to expand Interstate I-10 near the school, and from a bond, YES a bond, that the Bank of America was able to orchestrate for them through a small town in Texas that apparently allows itself to be used to issue non-traditional bonds. That last one really caught me, and the Head of School when he first learned it was possible, by surprise. The school is using the money to tear down a series of old buildings that were the original home for the school and replace them with brand spanking new facilities. They are also about to complete a wonderful sports complex complete with soccer field, stands, track and field, etc. 
The Awty school has a very interesting curriculum. In kindergarden children can be in either an English/Spanish or English/French program where each language makes up 50% of their day. Once kids enter 1st grade they must enroll in either the French Program or the International Program. The French Program is aligned heavily with the French Ministry of Education approved curriculum and consists of all French instruction and 6 hours per week of a second language (English, Spanish, or Dutch). The International Program’s curriculum is certified by the CIS (Council of International Schools), the ISAS (Independent School Association of the Southwest) and, the IB (International Baccalaureate). The primary instruction language in the International Program is English with 6 hours of a second language (French, Spanish, or Dutch). Once kids enter 6th grade they can choose yet another language. I was told that the most popular is Mandarin Chinese with Arabic coming in second. So, by the time your kid graduates from high school they could have exposure, if not proficiency in up to 4 (yes FOUR!) languages. If I had to choose for my son I’d make those English, Spanish, Mandarin, and French. Pretty amazing.
The one thing that was dissapointing, and also a major learning for me (read below), is that in the International Program, for example, the school does not offer instruction of subject matters in a foreign language. The only thing that is taught in the foreign language is the language itself. That means that one could not, for example, take Latin American Literature in Spanish. In the French Program, of course, all of the subjects are taught in French in order to meet French education certification requirements. Why is it that more courses are not taught in foreign languages – Spanish most notably? After spending time talking to Dr. Watson about the overall structure of the school and how it responds to the needs of its students, a possible answer dawned on me. Before I let you in on my “theory” let me give you some background.
I grew up Mexico City where I attended a fully bilingual immersion school called the American School Foundation (ASF). At the ASF I had bilingual instruction all the way from kindergarden until graduation from high school and had to graduate with two diploma’s; one from a US-based accreditation body and the other accredited by the Ministry of Education of Mexico. What this meant is that I had to take all of the courses required in the US PLUS all of the courses required to graduate in Mexico. These latter courses included things like Latin American Literature, Philosophy, Mexican History, Civics, Law, etc. All of these taught in Spanish. So, by the time I graduated from high school, I was completely bilingual in English and Spanish (speaking, reading, and writing). What I learned and now appreciate is that the reason the ASF does this is that they have a large (over 50%) population of students that are Mexican with a majority of these intending to stay in Mexico and attend a Mexican university after graduation. These students must, by definition, be taught subjects in Spanish in order for them to function in Mexican universities and otherwise be educated as any other Mexican citizen would. However, the ASF also has a large population (around 40%) of US expats that are there for a few years and need a US diploma to get back to the US and either finish high school there or go straight into a US university. Furthermore, there are quite a few Mexican students intent on also getting into a US university and interested in taking AP courses, etc. These demographics make it appropriate for the ASF to offer a bilingual curriculum given that their students demand it and pay for it.Most international schools in the US have a different set of market pressures placed on them since English is the lingua franca locally and a large majority of the students (except in places like NY and Washington, DC) are Americans with no intent to leave the US after graduation. As such, the schools default to English as the primary instruction language and reserve foreign languages only to those groups of people that need to go back to their home country. Although it would be interesting and perhaps even long-term relevant to, for example, offer an American student Mexican History in Spanish, the market demand for this, compared to, say AP US History, would be much lower given that the Mexican History course is likely to be much less relevant to the student once they get into college (unless they plan to major in a related subject).
In the case of the Awty school their demographics dictate that they offer a French curriculum given that a large fraction of the student body is French and will return to France for college after graduation. A similar demographic for Spanish speaking families does not exist here in the US – at least not in Austin. In fact, Spanish speaking families in Austin are most likely here to stay and not go back to their country of origin! This difference in demographics, I believe, will make it difficult for a fully bilingual K-12 immersion program to succeed in Austin unless some new variable comes into play. That said, I’m left thinking that fully bilingual instruction from K-6 might be very successful but that after that, as the school has to cater to market demands centering on college admission for its students, the families of students will make decisions that, over time, will favor English instruction over foreign language instruction (the AP US History vs. Mexican History example I cite above). In fact, while at Awty I learned that at one point Awty offered some non-language instruction courses in foreign languages but that these had been dropped over time.
Overall my trip to the Awty School was very valuable and I left more enthused about the possibility of having a truly international school grow in Austin even though my original vision of a K-12 bilingual immersion school, like the one I attended growing up in Mexico City, may have been changed quite a bit.
What do you think?
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