Espanola
Christina Hernandez, Spanish Teacher, Westmont High School,
Campbell writes:
Many of the students in my Spanish for Spanish Speakers
classes need to learn how the language works - spelling,
grammar, things like that. Most of my students are native
Spanish speakers from Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico.
Because of the rich international mix, my classes have been
able to appreciate a wide range of art and literature. the
students also do a lot of writing in my Spanish for Spanish
Speakers sections.
These classes are very personal. The students have a lot
in common - not only the language, but also the immigrant
experience, and so, they relate to one another more closely.
They connect.
I grew to love this class. it reminded me of why I went
into teaching.
I took the students to San Jose State University for a
day and to U.C. Berkeley and they learned that college is
available to them. I was able to encourage them not to lose
sight of college.
The way they blossomed in this class really surprised and
pleased me.
Social bonds established within the Spanish for Speakers
program were manifest in three ways. These interactions
occured between the Spanish-speaking students in the class;
also between these students and the non-Spanish-speaking
students who they tutored; and between these students and
me.
I didn't expect to love them. But that's what happened.
The project
Located in Campbell, the heart of northern California's
Silicon Valley, this partnership aimed at Spanish-speaking
high school students, who often drop out before graduation.
Their approach was to create classes to meet their specific
language needs. Spanish for Spanish Speakers classes incorporate
language development, oral and written skills, history,
literature, and cultural awareness. This uniquely focused
course was integrated into the existing foreign language
program. The students in Spanish for Spanish Speakers classes
became tutors and oral proficiency evaluators for students
in regular Spanish classes. The tutoring increased self-esteem
in Spanish-speaking students, and increased respect and
a feeling of camaraderie between those studying Spanish
as a second language and those who speak it as a first language.
Partners in this project include:
- Campbell Union High School District
- Campbell Elementary School District
- Cambrian Elementary School District
- Moreland Elementary School District
- San Jose State University
Dissemination goals: To publish and distribute
"Integrated Language Development Approach: A Spanish for Spanish
Speakers Curriculum," a 175-page binder organized to help
school districts duplicate the curriculum in their own schools;
to publish articles concerning the project; to make conference
presentations; and to co-sponsor the Bay Area Foreign Language
Project Stanford Summer Institute.
Project partners spoke at nine conferences during the 1993-94
dissemination year. from the Washington/Oregon Joint State
Foreign language College in June, project members shared
the benefits of forming academic partnerships, and how to
blend foreign language education and the students who speak
that language into existing language courses.
Conference presentations reached at least 500 teachers
with information and materials on establishing a Spanish
Speakers program.
In late June, the CAPP project directors and teachers co-sponsored
a two-week foreign language summer institute with the Bay
Area Foreign Language Project. Held at Stanford University,
eight Spanish/ESL teachers participated with 20 other foreign
language teachers in a special Spanish for Spanish program
in which they were trained to use the curriculum binder
materials.
The San Jose Mercury published "A Spanish Class
for Native Speakers," which was also published in other
newspapers owned by the same publisher's group. this public-interest
media attention resulted in calls from throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area and the Southwest asking for more information
about the project.
"Project co-directors and teachers believe that the work
we have done over the past years to implement and disseminate
the CAPP project has contributed significantly to the growth
of language minority education in the U.S.," said Anne Jensen,
CAPP project co-director.
"We have provided a blueprint for creating a Spanish for
Spanish Speakers program in a variety of settings. We have
documented how our program has grown and flourished in the
district. And we have personally watched the transformation
of Hispanic students in our district who were not college-bound
in to college-ready seniors."
