Many times, I found myself talking about things that I didn’t understand because I was translating for my mom, por que no sabia Ingles. So there I was telling her about when the water bill was due and where to pay it, what those state documents meant, what the total at the grocery store was and one time about a police report. But our contributor Barbara Anguiano found a school where kids have a common ground; where some who had grown up too fast can be children and those who don’t know Spanish are learning.
Duolingo schools no son nada nuevo. There are many of them around the country, focusing on many different languages, and they’re certainly not new in the state of Indiana. En Fort Wayne, Lindley Elementary ha tenido un programa similar al de Parkview, por más de veinte años.
De afuera, la escuela primaria Parkview en Valparaiso, Indiana, looks like any other school in Northern Indiana. Teachers greet kids outside the main doors, little flashes of color swipe past you as kids scurry to get to their classrooms, there’s a smell of plywood, because estan renovando la escuela.
A couple of years ago, Parkview received a state grant to create a pilot bilingual immersion program. Woodetski says como 23 por ciento de los estudiantes son hispanos, y los estudiantes bilingües y de habla hispana were getting left behind. The idea is to teach kids subjects such as math and science en Español por medio dia, y el resto del dia la instrucción es en Ingles.
Pero no todos los estudiantes se sienten cómodos con el Español. Bryan and Osvaldo son hermanos. They’re in different grades. Los dos son bilingues.
Y ser bilingue sometimes means you’re the voice for your family. A veces tienes que traducir, and that can be tough, take the classic cashier scenario. If you’ve ever translated for your parents you know exactly what we're talking about.
