Pedagogy: Elementary Schools

¡Adelante! The Spanish Immersion Program of the Kansas City, Missouri Schools

School District of Kansas City, Missouri

As a consequence of the November 12, 1986 federal court order mandating the creation of magnet schools for the purpose of ending segregative practices, elementary school language immersion programs for French, German, and Spanish were begun in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1987-88. This report presents an abbreviated update of the Spanish program.

There are six Spanish immersion schools: Fairmount (K-3), Franklin (K-5), Moore (K-5), and New West (K-5), with a total pupil enrollment of 950; Melcher (a Grade 4-5 center for the three languages) and Central Middle (6-8) continue the foreign language magnet strand, with a combined Spanish population of approximately 200 youngsters. Parents who select a Spanish immersion program choose either total immersion or partial immersion for their children. (Only at Grade 4 at Melcher is there an entry point for FLES, or «pull-out» services.) The strands differ in that total immersion students study language arts in Spanish; partial immersion students do not. Both receive instruction in mathematics, science, and social studies through the medium of Spanish. Pupils who begin at either Kindergarten or first grade have a continuing program throughout their early and middle years. An international studies high school (Grades 9-12), to begin operation in 1991-92, will complete the sequence.

Partial and total immersion students will have a gradually reduced amount of time de voted to the immersion language after Grade One: beginning in Grade Two, some 20 minutes of the day are spent instructing the children in English language arts. At the time of Grade Six entry, immersion students will be placed into subject-matter sections (two or three daily), following their primary-level work with classes in language, math, science, or social studies.

Such a program as ours requires special staff members. And, given the rigorous linguistic demands placed upon the teachers, it is necessary that in addition to their being certifiable by the state as elementary class room teachers, staff must be native or near native in their language skills. At present, there are 32 faculty members from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and the United States. It is our desire that the immersion teachers reflect a great international diversity within the Spanish-speaking world, depending upon recruitment and interest of naturalized or temporary-resident professionals from other lands. The staff follows the curriculum objectives of our district. While it is true that there are initial lags or delays in home -language skills during the first years of immersion training- a logical result of little formal class work in the students' home language, early local reports and studies available elsewhere in the U.S.A. and Canada indicate that by the completion of Grade Five, the children's skills in English language arts will approximate or exceed those of their monolingual peers.

Along with developing lesson plans to meet the curriculum objectives, a significant part of our work -and a source of pride- is the materials development that we have embarked

––––––––   1131   ––––––––

upon. Teachers have worked at locating and devising appropriate items for their class rooms in addition to the published materials that are available (in greater abundance than French or German immersion items, we might add). Teachers who summer with families «at home» return bearing items to share with colleagues. The process of gathering materials is continuous; attendees at several national and regional language meetings have had the opportunity to receive part of the earliest gleanings at presentations made by this writer. Two songs taught by an Argentine staff member to her second grade groups serve as an example of our «realia exchange»; the first is a «finger-counting» song. It teaches sequencing, as does the second rhyme:

In terms of food, cooking, and some basic «science» facts, another teacher's observation might be noted here; «I have several Mexican-American children in my class, and when we have a word that is said differently than the way we say it in Argentina, we name that item in both ways, making it clear that though different, both words are correct. The children love it when I tell them about my country, and the foods. I tell them that most people, including myself, love to eat dulce de leche. In this way, we learned about different milk products, how heat produces changes, how to fraction the bread to have enough for all, how to share, and how to demonstrate good manners at the table. Thus, dulce de leche goes a long way!» For those teachers who have access at school to a cooking facility, the following recipe is included:

The finger and hands songs are a possible lead-in activity for students to paint faces on their fingertips in order to dramatize a story, and then follow that strategy with a puppet dramatization. A first grade total immersion teacher reports that her students (after 1.5 years' exposure to Spanish) «can perfectly improvise in Spanish a small play with the puppets and show the rest of the students.» They generally choose a subject we have done. For instance, if we've been talking about «food groups», they'll talk about that, and make up a little story about the topic.

Finally, here is another song taught by a staff member who remembers it from her own school days; it is a fine example of the fun children have with counting songs:

Curriculum development can be quite exciting when staff members share such activities with colleagues; in addition to materials sharing, the district sponsors workshops on classroom management, team-building, learning styles, special learners, and seminars on cooperative learning. A 40-hour inservice program is mandatory throughout the magnet program; it serves to set the opening of school focus on the specific school theme. Supervisors interested in the type of program offerings held during this August activity may write for further information.

At the same time that school activities and

––––––––   1132   ––––––––

faculty/staff meetings take place, another important aspect of a magnet school system must be considered: outreach, or marketing for purposes of student recruitment. In this regard, the Spanish schools lead the others with French and German not so far behind. As the district develops its entire palette of magnet offerings designed to attract students from the suburban and non-minority areas of Kansas City, marketing strategies, parent meetings, recruitment plans, and the district's obligation to comply with the court-mandated enrollment goals (60% minority, 40% non minority), become part of the teachers' concerns. Foreign Language Week celebrations and programs are but part of a variety of special events designed to interest parents and community members. Special booklets, refrigerator magnets, and T-shirts with logos or slogans (i.e., «Moore tiene más» or New West's «Vamos a volar») are everywhere in evidence. Field trips and Parents' Nights abound; newspaper ads extol the ease of location for parents on their way to work to drop off their youngster; extended-day activities (from as early as 7:00 a.m. to as late as 5:30 p.m.) with special programs (dance, cooking, extra academic help, and so on) staffed by faculty are aimed at attesting to the district's commitment to provide parents and students access to special educational opportunities. English-language staff and the students' parents are enrolled in Spanish (or French or German) courses that are offered gratis at the school sites in the evenings; the courses are taught by local faculty, in an attempt to address the need parents have for taking part in their child's school-day activities.

For the immediate future, the following may be of interest: more Kindergarten classes are being offered for the next school year than were previously available. Continued curriculum/materials development is part of our «action agenda»; song manuals and immersion appropriate games are being put together, as well as a continued effort at devising a placement examination for FLES strand youngsters so that they may be enrolled correctly in the district's middle schools. Issues of teacher certification for our foreign national staff are going to remain a tender point for some time, despite the critical FL teacher shortage Missouri «enjoys» along with 30 other states. It does appear that the state's position may be changing somewhat, how ever; we hope that within the next two to three years there is a serious approach to resolving the matter of the state not assisting the district in establishing a means whereby stability of our teacher corps is measured by lengths of stay of more than three years and extraordinary course requirements. In addition, there must also take place a conscious acknowledgment by university language departments that course offerings for majors interested in teaching -and by education departments where elementary teachers receive their training, too- be attuned to career possibilities as relevant methodological matters. Only in the context of visa relaxation (where applicable), state certification, and American teacher education will our district -and others as well- be out of the loop of the continuous «seller's market» that hiring time now constitutes.

In summary, the Kansas City, Missouri, Foreign Language Magnet program began with little more than a court order and a few dreams on paper, and a relatively untested staff. Stabilization in this, the third year, is evident now. Students for whom this is their third year are demonstrating facility in speaking Spanish; their comprehension skills are at very high levels. Teacher attrition has been reduced, although, because of visa matters, it is still too high. Parents who questioned the program at the outset as yet another misguided experiment have become staunch advocates, and sell the program, as it were, to new enrollees' parents. Staff members' skills in presentation of lessons continue to improve; materials and tips they share are requested by other immersion programs. More needs to be done, of course. Student achievement must be measured meaningfully -present standardized English-language tests do not «do justice» to covering the program's needs, but we must administer the examination to the children, unfortunately. Our metropolitan area, and our state in general, must increase the esteem for elementary foreign language programs, and affirm the need for making appropriate changes in the support service areas of certification and teacher preparation. And finally, through continuing to provide a quality education to our children, the Spanish immersion schools will supply pupils with the encouragement and excitement of language and culture learning as they begin to seek their place in the multicultural, multilingual

––––––––   1133   ––––––––

world society that is our common future.

Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank the following staff members for their cooperation and collaboration on this report: María del Carmen Lafalce, Claudia Mompó, Marcella Renna, and Mónica Cichero.

For further information write to the author at:

301 E. Armour Blvd.

Curriculum Offices

Kansas City, MO 64111.

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 73, Number 4, December 1990