Posted on 05/08/2010 5:06:56 PM PDT by McLynnan
Waco school district officials won’t be going to Mexico this spring to recruit bilingual teachers.
The program is so well-staffed there’s no need to.
For years, the state has granted Waco Independent School District an exception, allowing the district to put students who qualified for a bilingual class into English as a Second Language services instead because WISD could not find enough bilingual teachers.
WISD is designated by the state as a bilingual district. It is required to offer bilingual classes if 20 students on a given grade level speak the same primary language.
This year, 2,300 Spanish-speaking Waco students in prekindergarten through sixth grade took bilingual classes. An additional number of students, mostly in sixth through 12th grade, received ESL services.
WISD officials don’t expect to need an exception from the state for the coming school year.
In recent years, the shortage sent WISD officials to Monterrey, Mexico, to recruit bilingual teachers through the Region 4 Education Service Center international teacher certification program.
In three years, the district hired about 20 Mexican teachers.
The school board voted in March to stop the practice of hiring internationally until officials can be assured the candidates undergo rigorous background checks.
The decision arose after bilingual kindergarten teacher Fernando Campos was arrested by Waco police on child sex abuse charges.
Campos was recruited through the Region 4 program.
Determining the number of bilingual teachers needed and at which schools to place those teachers is a challenge every year because the district’s families move so often, said Betty de Torres y Sandoval, WISD director of bilingual/ESL programs.
WISD may have one or two bilingual positions to fill before next year, but Sandoval doesn’t think she’ll have any trouble doing that.
Major life changes
About 18 teachers from the international program are still in Waco classrooms.
Sandoval said she is pleased with the retention rate of the Mexican teachers.
“They’re making a life change, not just a career change. They made sacrifices to come here,” Sandoval said. “Most, if not all, come here very committed to what they have chosen to do.”
Most of the recruits are highly educated, Sandoval said. In Monterrey, they were lawyers, dentists, university professors and business owners.
Some of the Mexican teachers also have encouraged family members to join the program, such as Crestview Elementary School bilingual teacher Aldo Gonzales, who began in 2007. His wife came to WISD one year later.
“We realized there was a strong need for bilingual education here,” said Gonzales, 31. “We wanted to raise our daughter bilingual, too.”
The tight teacher job market also has helped Waco ISD fill bilingual slots, Sandoval said, luring teachers who otherwise may have picked Dallas or Austin districts.
The school district also has been grooming its own bilingual teachers, encouraging some teachers to pursue bilingual certification.
A growing need
Because bilingual education is one of the state’s teacher shortage areas, WISD offers $3,000 as an incentive to bilingual teachers.
This year, the district employed 53 bilingual teachers across 17 campuses.
They served more than 2,300 bilingual students, in prekindergarten through fifth grades, and sixth grade, when it’s part of an elementary school.
Students in sixth through 12th grades whose first language is not English may receive ESL services.
Bilingual teachers must be certified in the grade they teach and certified in bilingual education.
They also must prove their oral and written proficiency in Spanish and meet with Sandoval annually to prove their proficiency.
Sandoval said it’s also helpful if bilingual teachers are familiar with Spanish-speaking cultures.
Showing empathy
Teachers who learned English as their second language also may have empathy for their students and better understand the transition that takes place when learning a new language.
The children are often at varying levels of proficiency in both languages, and the bilingual teacher must have a keen sense for where each student is in their language development.
Lilia Arambula, a 65-year-old first-grade bilingual teacher at Crestview, tries to help her students appreciate more than their languages.
In a brightly embroidered dress marking Cinco de Mayo this week, Arambula explained to her students that her dress is indigenous to the Yucatan region of Mexico.
“I can teach them there are different places in the world but we have the same needs. . . . They start to open their minds to the world,” Arambula said.
Arambula was hired from Monterrey in 2007.
Her three years teaching Waco’s youngest students have been a far cry from her years as a university math professor in Monterrey.
“It’s kind of different, but it’s rewarding. You can see the progress in their learning,” she said.
Arambula has to renew her visa every year and can do so for up to six years, as long as the state continues to define bilingual education as a shortage area. She said she’d like to stay longer.
“If the government allows me to change my status, I will do it. If not, it was a very nice experience,” she said.
Family ties
Arambula influenced her sister, a former high school teacher in Monterrey, to enter the certification program as well.
She now teaches at Viking Hills Elementary School.
Arambula said sharing the same background and culture as many of her students is an advantage.
“In our culture, families respect the teacher,” she said.
So Arambula has made a point of talking to parents and making them believe their children could be the first in their family to go to college.
She said she encourages parents to talk to their children and encourage them in their studies.
Thanks for the ping! I used to substitute in WISD. I actually taught bilingual Spanish Kindergarten at Bells Hill. Interesting to say the least!
Bttt
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