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 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.
Did you know that there is a “public television”-like Spanish language channel available in the US? I had no idea. It is out there and it is called V-Me (a play on “ve me”, Spanish for “see me”). For some reason Austin has been sidestepped and we aren’t fortunate enough yet to get this channel on cable or over-the-air. You can, however, get it via satellite on Dish and DirecTV.
I took a look at the programming and it does look really good. About two months ago I signed up for the “latin” channel package from my local cable operator mainly because I wanted to get access to cartoons in Spanish for my kids to watch. I’ve been pretty dissappointed as the program selection that is available and age appropriate for my 5 and 3 year old kids is very limited and, to my surprise, half of the cartoons appear in English! Hopefully we will soon get V-Me here in Austin so we can get access to what appears to be pretty high quality programming – all in Spanish.
The next meeting of the Austin Bilingüe group will be held on Wednesday, June 25 from 7-9 pm.
SPEAKER/TOPIC: Dr. Deb Palmer, Assistant Professor of Bilingual and Bicultural Education, The University of Texas at Austin. Deb teaches courses in the foundations of bilingual education, teaching in bilingual settings, and second language acquisition. She is fluent in Spanish, the mother of two young children who will soon enter kindergarten, and was a former two-way immersion teacher in California. Dr. Palmer’s discussion topic, “Educating for Equity in a Two-Way Immersion Classroom”, will provide the audience with insights on what goes on inside the classroom, how kids interact and learn, and how teachers can best deliver a quality education in a two-way immersion setting.
At the fourth Austin Bilingüe meeting held on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 we had the pleasure of welcoming Monica Defosse (yours truly’s sister! – she is the first person from the right in the picture). Monica is an accomplished dual immersion school teacher and academic coordinator for the renown Colegio Humane in Leon, Mexico. Monica’s presentation consisted of an interactive session amongst the audience which followed the Accelerated Learning methodology. The session covered the basics of Dual Language education, the differences between it and traditional bilingual education, and a survey of the many benefits that dual language education can have on children and on the community. Attendees participated in the session by working as teams to develop posters that represented the participants understanding of the topics covered during the session as well as their own feelings and interpretations on the subject of dual language education.
The Austin Bilingüe project was featured in the May 2008 edition of the McCombs Monthly, an email news publication for MBA Alumni from The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. The story is shown verbatim below (note: the school is not actually open YET but it is nice that they stated it as a fait accompli!
Erin Defosse, MBA ’98, Opens Austin Bilingual School Erin Defosse is the founder of non-profit organization Austin Bilingüe, whose primary objective is to launch a private, dual language immersion school in Austin. Children attending the school will become fully fluent (writing, reading, speaking) in English and Spanish. The school will eventually add additional languages, and students will engage in a globally oriented curriculum. “I decided to establish this school because I wanted my kids to have the type of education I grew up with,” said Defosse, who is bilingual and attended the American School in Mexico City as a child. He plans to open Austin Bilingüe in the fall of 2009, with a K-2 offering that will expand year by year.
The next meeting of the Austin Bilingüe group will be held on Thursday, May 15 from 7-9 pm.
SPEAKER: Monica Defosse, teacher and director of the bilingual education program at the Colegio Humane in Leon, Mexico. The Colegio Humane is a highly regarded private school in Mexico that has adapted the Accelerated Learning teaching methodology for providing kids with a highly effective bilingual education. Monica will be sharing her experiences in setting up a bilingual school program as well as discuss the effectiveness that they have seen at the Colegio Humane using these methodologies.
At the third Austin Bilingüe meeting held on Wednesday, April 23rd we were fortunate enough to have Leticia Smith, founder and president of Risas y Sonrisas, provide a presentation about her company’s teaching tools designed to help kids learn Spanish. Leticia recounted how she started her work while trying to help her own neighborhood school with their attempts to teach Spanish. “I was amazed that, having come from Mexico and now living in the richest country in the world, there were virtually no quality teaching tools to help kids learn Spanish”, Leticia said as she retold her story. It was around that time that she had an epiphany, of sorts, that occured when she attended a training course on Accelerated Learning at The University of Houston. “The theory behind Accelerated Learning made so much sense to me and I could relate to how it would have helped me when I myself was a kid in school struggling to make heads or tails of teachers that insisted on lecturing and focusing on verbal and written communication.” The Accelerated Learning techniques Leticia went on to adopt for her tools are based on the idea that in order to maximize learning we must engage both the right and left hemispheres of our brain – that is, we must accompany words, a left brain focus, with images and music which are processed by the right hemisphere. Leticia used this basic concept to design a series of posters, flash cards, and workbooks that help kids learn Spanish by coupling words with fun, sight and sound oriented, games and activities. Since launching her company Leticia has sold her tools, which now include CDs and DVDs, to countless teachers and schools across the country and is actively looking to expand her company going forward. Leticia summed up the philosophy behind her company’s products by retelling a saying from the Chinese philosopher Confucius who once said “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” How little things have changed in a couple of thousand years!
