My visit to the Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Oakland, CA

La Escuela Bilingüe Internacional

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’s Primary 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!