Latest / Inside the OSD / S2 E9 - Hispanic Heritage Program

Transcript

S2 E9 - Hispanic Heritage Program · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: Today we're going to learn about our multilingual and heritage Spanish departments in the OSD.
• 0:06
  We'll talk with some of our staff members and hear about the many opportunities for our kids.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:18
  Here is your host, lifelong educator and our superintendent, Dr.
• 0:22
  Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER1: Welcome to Inside the OSD.
• 0:28
  We are excited to have you here to talk about our multilingual and heritage Spanish departments.
• 0:33
  So let's start with introductions.
• 0:35
  Can you share a little bit about your background and your role here in the OSD?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER3: My name is Jasmin Hammes.
• 0:41
  I am the heritage Spanish teacher for Prairie View and Brooklyn Elementary.
• 0:45
  I believe this will be my 14th year in the district.
• 0:48
  Wow! I was the first heritage teacher to be hired, which is really exciting.
• 0:54
  A little bit about my background.
• 0:56
  I had the privilege of attending a Spanish immersion elementary school, and so language learning is been part of my life since I was like five years old, which
• 1:05
  is something that I carry with me in my instruction.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER1: That's really cool.
• 1:09
  Where did you grow up where you had that opportunity?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER3: It was in Minneapolis.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER1: Wow. That's great.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER4: Hi, I'm Katie Hajdu.
• 1:18
  I am a multilingual teacher here in the Oregon School district.
• 1:22
  I'm at Prairie View, Netherwood and Brooklyn Elementary.
• 1:26
  I really started my career -- I read an article about the need for ESL teachers, and that's another term for what I
• 1:36
  do just in Dane County.
• 1:37
  And the need, because of the growing population of specifically Spanish speaking students, but other languages as well.
• 1:45
  And I decided to go back to school and get my teaching licenses, including that.
• 1:50
  And then this is my first and only position in this field, and this is my 13th year.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER1: That's so exciting.
• 1:56
  So you had a different -- you were in a different profession.
• 1:59
  You read this article and went back to school.
• 2:01
  Yes. Oh my goodness.
• 2:03
  We should find out who wrote that and send them a card or something.
• 2:06
  That's really cool.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER5: I'm Maggie Lofgren and I'm the heritage Spanish teacher at RCI and OMS, and my background is in learning languages
• 2:17
  and English as a second language in school.
• 2:21
  Once I started teaching in Lodi teaching Spanish, I realized that I really loved working with my native speakers and I realized there was
• 2:31
  there was a lot lacking for them in their in their classes.
• 2:34
  And I decided to go back for my master's and went with a bilingual bicultural focus and really, really fell in love with that world and landed
• 2:44
  here in Oregon.
• 2:45
  And this is my sixth year.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER1: Thank you Maggie. And I forgot that you had been in Lodi before us.
• 2:52
  I think they just won the state football championship for their division.
• 2:56
  Yeah, that's pretty cool.
• 2:57
  So now I'd love for you to describe the programs that you work in for our listeners, because I'm not sure everybody understands the services that we
• 3:07
  provide our students, especially since names have changed over the course of time, so they might not recognize it even if they think they understand it.
• 3:14
  So, Jasmin, would you like to start with the elementary schools and then we'll work our way up?
• 3:20
  Sure.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER3: So at the elementary level, we have a heritage Spanish program, and we also have what's called the multilingual program.
• 3:27
  The Heritage Spanish program provides Spanish support for our students whose parents speak Spanish at home.
• 3:35
  The multilingual offers more English support for all of our students.
• 3:39
  We'll get into that in a little bit.
• 3:40
  So for the heritage program, it's really cool because when all of their peers go to the World Language Spanish course, which is
• 3:51
  a little, it's not as challenging as maybe our Spanish speakers might need.
• 3:56
  Our Spanish speakers come with me.
• 3:58
  And so they get literacy and writing in Spanish, so that way they can flourish in both languages.
• 4:07
  One thing to kind of think about when a kiddo goes into kindergarten and if they don't have any English, they're not only trying to figure out the language,
• 4:15
  but they're also trying to figure out the content, the reading, the writing, the math.
• 4:18
  So if we're able to provide that support in Spanish, then those skills transfer as they're learning English.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER1: I think that's the key piece, Jasmin, that a lot of people don't understand.
• 4:29
  When -- why would you teach a student in Spanish when you want them to learn English?
• 4:36
  They don't understand always why it works the way it works.
• 4:40
  So can you do that?
• 4:41
  Can you explain that one more time?
• 4:42
  Because that's a really big piece.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER3: So I kind of go back to like if you were to learn the vocabulary or if you're learning photosynthesis.
• 4:52
  This is kind of complex. But if you're learning photosynthesis and you don't speak the language, you have to learn the content, photosynthesis.
• 4:59
  But then you also have to learn the language.
• 5:02
  And so by providing the heritage Spanish program, we're making sure that they're getting the content while they're developing their English skills.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER1: That's a great way to describe it.
• 5:12
  And they're getting the content in their English language arts course.
• 5:15
  So reading, writing, speaking, listening.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER3: Yes. And the cool thing about the new language arts curriculum is that there's a lot of science and social studies embedded.
• 5:23
  So they're learning like kindergartens, learning different types of weather.
• 5:27
  And then in second grade they're learning about fossils.
• 5:32
  And that is embedded in the language arts curriculum.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER1: Oh that's fantastic.
• 5:35
  So they're getting that in their heritage language and they're getting that in English.
• 5:41
  Correct.
• 5:42
  Okay. Thank you I think that made it really clear.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER3: So then while I'm offering the Spanish support, Katie Hajdu offers English support for a lot of our students.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER4: Yep. So Jasmin and I do overlap a lot of our students.
• 5:57
  Students are identified as multilingual learners based on how their parents fill out their registration, parents or guardians fill out registration and
• 6:06
  their home language.
• 6:07
  And then we give a screener in English.
• 6:10
  And so students who qualify, then we can start right away.
• 6:14
  It doesn't matter what age they enter.
• 6:18
  And so then we provide English support for them.
• 6:21
  And so we do a combination.
• 6:23
  We might support them in the classroom.
• 6:27
  When I say "we" I mean myself or my colleagues at the other buildings, we also have some paraprofessionals who work with us as well, um, support in the
• 6:35
  classroom. We collaborate a lot with teachers as well, with vocabulary and language, just all sorts of instructional best
• 6:45
  practices that they can use.
• 6:47
  And we do some pull out as well, or working in small groups.
• 6:51
  It kind of varies based on a student's language level as well.
• 6:56
  We can see students who are born here in Madison, Dane County, and they are learning English even before they're
• 7:06
  coming to us, but they're still needing support all the way to students coming straight from another country and enrolling as an 11th grader at the high
• 7:14
  school. So it can really vary.
• 7:16
  We have students who currently in our district, they represent 23 countries.
• 7:23
  That's fantastic.
• 7:24
  Themselves or their parents?
• 7:26
  We also have about somewhere between 8 and 10 languages right now represented, with Spanish being the
• 7:36
  majority as well.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER1: After Spanish, what is the next most commonly spoken language of students in our Multilingual Learner program?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER4: Right now, I would say probably Albanian.
• 7:50
  Wow. I could -- I would have to crunch the numbers, but it's a pretty big gap between Spanish and then just some pockets of some of the other languages.
• 7:59
  But we have Spanish, Albanian, Nepali, Arabic, Hmong, Lao, Polish.
• 8:04
  In the past we've had Mandarin, Ukrainian, Dutch, Russian, French, Korean, Mongolian, and I'm sure there's more that I'm missing.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER1: Well, now it's absolutely a superpower to be multilingual.
• 8:16
  And I -- it's something that is so important in our world.
• 8:21
  But I also know that being a multilingual learner teacher doesn't require that you speak every one of these languages.
• 8:29
  So I think that's important to remember sometimes, because I believe that very often people assume that you are a fluent Spanish speaker, and that isn't
• 8:39
  necessarily the case.
• 8:41
  It may be for some, but not for everyone.
• 8:43
  Why isn't it important?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. So in our training, it actually has a lot more to do with how human beings acquire language, rather than mastering a second
• 8:55
  or third language for us to be able to support students, which it
• 8:58
  SPEAKER1: would be important in the heritage language program, but not in the multilingual learner.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER4: So. So it really is about best ways to draw out language and support and provide scaffolding and setting goals
• 9:11
  for for learners.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. Now, Maggie, what does this look like in the middle level?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER5: I would say similar to Jasmin, what she said about our heritage, Spanish students coming to our classrooms when they would typically be at a world
• 9:26
  language classroom.
• 9:27
  So it looks like more rigorous reading and writing in the language.
• 9:31
  And it's -- it's like our goal to get them as close to grade level as we can.
• 9:37
  And we're always struggling because we have such a limited amount of time.
• 9:40
  But that's the goal is to to keep improving in their literacy in Spanish.
• 9:45
  We know what a benefit that's going to be for them in the future.
• 9:49
  I would say also in middle school there -- there are some things that happen in middle school, and there's some identity pieces that come up with students
• 9:59
  and a lot of reflection they go through.
• 10:02
  And I think just having a space where they feel safe and where they feel seen, and where they can connect with peers who are very similar to them in their
• 10:11
  backgrounds is very valuable.
• 10:13
  So that's a huge piece I just wanted to put in there as well.
• 10:16
  And then I would say as far as our multilingual department, similar to what Jasmin and Katie have said, we're supporting in their classrooms.
• 10:25
  Rachel, Zaida and I have been focusing more on Translanguaging, which is a big.
• 10:31
  Can you explain what that is right now?
• 10:33
  Yeah, I'll try my best, but I think they would put it as using your full language repertoire -- repertoire in school.
• 10:41
  And so knowing that students, they're not students that are bilingual are not just using one language in isolation.
• 10:48
  They're accessing all of their language and all of their abilities at once.
• 10:52
  And it's a real benefit to connect to their language and to their culture in the classroom.
• 10:58
  So that might look like this year I'm supporting in a geography classroom, and we have some newcomer students, students who are newer to the country,
• 11:08
  Spanish speakers, and we're using some flexible language use in the classroom.
• 11:13
  So Laura Stoler - can call it a teacher?
• 11:17
  Please do. Laura Stoler, who actually is a Spanish speaker herself.
• 11:20
  Her and I get a little creative, and it's cool to see how the whole class seems quite comfortable with us switching to Spanish once in a while, or providing a
• 11:30
  text in Spanish, or modifying -- modifying an assignment so that it's bilingual.
• 11:36
  And when you think about middle school and high school, the language becomes a lot more demanding and academic.
• 11:43
  And you have a student that might be here only a year and has not been exposed to English in the past.
• 11:49
  And so it's a different strategy that you need to employ, I think, in the middle and high school level.
• 11:55
  And so we we do get a little bit more flexible in language use.
• 12:00
  Like I said.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER1: That is that is so interesting.
• 12:03
  And I'm thinking about content specific vocabulary and how challenging I'm sure that is when you're trying to learn it in two languages simultaneously, but
• 12:13
  ultimately extraordinarily beneficial, but very challenging in the moment.
• 12:17
  So what are some of the most important strategies to help students when they're trying to master content vocabulary, as they're also mastering the
• 12:27
  language of English?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER5: Well, many things, and feel free to chime in.
• 12:32
  But I would say like, obviously a big thing would be being able to compare both languages.
• 12:37
  And so, you know, we might make a bilingual note taking sheet where they're able to compare those two sets of vocabulary in both languages.
• 12:47
  Oftentimes we have words that are cognates that look the same between English and Spanish, and that can be a big benefit as they start to comprehend.
• 12:54
  So we want them to be able to comprehend because, like Jasmin said, we want them to learn the content.
• 13:00
  And then at the same time, we also want them to be able to have the language to communicate, ideally in both languages.
• 13:07
  So I think it's a slow transition from Spanish to English or kind of simultaneously learning as they go.
• 13:15
  I would say time to process and time to orally talk about what is going on.
• 13:22
  So, you know, just thinking about best practices when they're able to take the time to talk through what was just delivered in the lesson, versus just
• 13:32
  merely like a sit and get type of lesson, given the chance to talk with their peers and maybe discuss it in Spanish so that they're able to first comprehend
• 13:40
  it and then move towards being able to produce something in English or Spanish.
• 13:46
  What other strategies do you have?
• 13:49
  I mean, there's a lot.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER3: So this actually reminds me of this year we're doing Spanish push in read alouds, which is something that we have not done in the
• 14:00
  past. And so what we've done is for all of the English language arts texts that we purchased, we tried to find as
• 14:09
  many as we could in Spanish.
• 14:11
  And so what happens is the kindergarten teacher will will read a text and they'll have a deep dive and talking about what happens in the story, the
• 14:19
  language and the story. And this is all happening in English in the classroom.
• 14:23
  And I also read the text and the heritage Spanish class.
• 14:27
  But then afterwards we come together and I actually read the text to the whole entire class.
• 14:32
  Or today I actually read it to the whole entire purview first grade class.
• 14:37
  Like we had three classrooms Miss Marshall's, Miss Merrill, and Miss Heath's class all jammed into Miss Marshall's class.
• 14:43
  And it was a book about a moon.
• 14:45
  And the kids were repeating some of the words and the actions, and so they were learning moon and how it gets bigger and how it gets smaller and all of it.
• 14:54
  The story was in Spanish, and because they had heard it in English before, the English learners were able to access the Spanish, and because it was in Spanish,
• 15:03
  our Spanish speakers got to be experts.
• 15:06
  So every once in a while I'll say, "hey, does anybody know what Estrellas are?" And what happens is all my Spanish speakers, their hands go up and they get to
• 15:14
  say "that's star in Spanish." And so it's really great because it normalizes having multilingualism in your classroom, and it provides access to
• 15:24
  bilingual education as best we can with the resources we have for all of our Oregon elementary kids.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's a really exciting example.
• 15:33
  That's fun.
• 15:35
  Walk us through a day in the life of a student in either of the programs heritage, Spanish or multilingual learners.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER4: For multilingual learners, it could really also range.
• 15:50
  But I would say if you are brand new to the country, to our district, you'd probably be greeted by one of us,
• 16:00
  especially on your first day.
• 16:02
  But as time goes on, you might see a little time with the multilingual teacher.
• 16:09
  If they are also a Spanish speaker, they'd also be participating in the heritage Spanish program as well, and they'd probably get a combination of that
• 16:18
  time building that vocabulary, but also the content enrichment and also time in the classroom.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. How about when they get older?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER5: When they get older? You know, it really depends.
• 16:32
  Case by case. We have students who still receive multilingual services as they get into the middle school coming from Prairie View, Brooklyn, Forest Edge.
• 16:41
  And they might not see their multilingual teacher quite as often as someone who is new to the country and might need more of that one on one support.
• 16:50
  Sure. More modifying assignments, bringing in that that Spanish or whatever the first language is to help support their comprehension
• 17:00
  and.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER1: All right. Thank you.
• 17:05
  Anything you want to add about your students and their experience?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER3: I just appreciate how much we support that they are provided with having a heritage Spanish as part of their programing.
• 17:16
  A lot of the families have talked about the opportunity to read Spanish books to their children is just really important to
• 17:26
  them, and it helps bridge education between home and school.
• 17:32
  And then also we try hard to incorporate content and texts that reflect their cultures.
• 17:39
  And so, for example, we were just reading a book about it's called mango, mango abuela.
• 17:45
  So mango, abuela, grandma and me.
• 17:48
  And it's this cool story about how this grandma comes from an island that only speaks Spanish, but the girl only speaks English.
• 17:55
  And in my class, the kids are like, "that's just like me.
• 17:58
  I'm still learning, you know, I'm learning Spanish so I can talk to my abuela." And so just having those opportunities to really connect what the kids are
• 18:06
  learning to their cultures and their home lives, life strengthens their learning experience.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER1: Oh that's wonderful. Thank you.
• 18:14
  So I think you've kind of answered my next question.
• 18:17
  Why is it important to offer the program of Heritage Spanish?
• 18:23
  I mean, that was a great answer.
• 18:24
  Is there anything else you want to add to it?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER5: Well, I mean, the connection to their their family is huge.
• 18:30
  I've been talking to parents at conferences recently.
• 18:34
  I heard a couple of times like, "so-and-so needs to keep up their Spanish.
• 18:38
  They need to be able to talk to their abuela" like they need to be able to connect to their family.
• 18:42
  Many of them go back to their home countries during the holidays or the summer.
• 18:46
  They they need to be seen for all of their identities, I guess you could say.
• 18:51
  And I've seen as I've gone a couple more years into this position, when I talk to parents, they are speaking up more about how important it is for them that
• 19:00
  they that they build their literacy in Spanish, that they have that opportunity in their future careers to be able to read and write in both languages and speak
• 19:09
  in both languages. So it's -- it's a big thing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. I've actually had conferences also where people or parents have asked, you know, what can I be doing at home?
• 19:19
  And I'll actually say, actually keep up your first language.
• 19:25
  And some people are surprised to hear that coming from my -- my role as someone trying to help students learn and master English.
• 19:33
  But it really is true.
• 19:35
  You're more likely to learn how to read in English if you are literate in your first language, so those skills transfer over.
• 19:43
  But also I think about this a lot.
• 19:46
  Students are only students for so long in their lifetime.
• 19:49
  It's a percentage to have the skills of being bilingual or multilingual.
• 19:54
  Beyond that is just so much more important to their identity, but also just their community, their relationships.
• 20:02
  And so it's it's a society really.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER1: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
• 20:15
  OregonSD.Org/podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 20:23
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 20:29
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD where it's all about the kids.