So, it really does make a huge difference. How have you seen bilingual students’ performance change in the classroom when they have a teacher that also speaks their language?ĭantas-Whitney: It really makes a very big difference, because once you start recognizing that kids’ bilingualism is an asset as opposed to a barrier or a challenge, then you start opening up opportunities for success, right? When a child comes into a school, perhaps speaking Spanish, for example, and is still developing their English language skills, schools and teachers might sometimes look at that as an obstacle or challenge or barrier: ‘Oh, this child doesn’t speak English, it’s going to be hard for them to achieve,’ right? That’s a deficit perspective.īut on the other hand, if we embrace the child’s bilingualism and look at that child as, ‘wow, they do speak Spanish!’ Let’s build upon their Spanish language skills and not only teach the content of their academic classes in Spanish, but at the same time also develop their English language skills - taking more of this asset perspective - then we have all kinds of opportunities to maximize their academic performance at school. Notarianni: Maria, you’ve been a professor for many years. But obviously, I still face a lot of challenges in terms of feeling anxious being in a new country. That actually made me feel a little bit more safe and comfortable. Obviously, it was challenging for me because of the English, but even though it was a challenge, I still had teachers that tried their best to communicate with me in my own language. I came into a community that had many Latino students that looked like me, and I was able to feel comfortable, in a way. Even though I was not placed in a dual language class, I still had teachers that spoke Spanish, so I didn’t feel out of place. How were you supported in school in terms of language?īelén Tencos Mendoza: Well, I was very fortunate to arrive to an elementary that was already a Title 1 school. You moved to the US with your family from Mexico when you were eight years old. Notarianni: Belén, I understand that you’re a DACA recipient. So English would be their third language. Many of the families coming from Latin America may have an Indigenous language as a first language, and Spanish maybe as their second language. That really recognizes that sometimes, English might be the third or fourth language of many of our kids and families that are in our schools. What’s the importance of the distinction there?ĭantas-Whitney: ESOL is English for speakers of other languages. Notarianni: I think a lot of people are familiar with the term ESL, but the acronym in your title is ESOL. So, the idea came up of doing what we call a grow-your-own program. Then, they realized that they had the population of bilingual individuals right there in their local communities. But what they were finding out is that those teachers would stay perhaps for one and two years, but then would go back home. Maria Dantas-Whitney: These superintendents approached us with this very specific need because previously, they had been going out of state -and sometimes even out of the country - to places like Texas, California, Puerto Rico, and sometimes even Mexico and Spain to recruit teachers to become bilingual teachers here in Oregon, in their districts. What need were the superintendents in those districts seeing back then? John Notarianni: This program was started eight years ago at Western Oregon University, in partnership with a number of local school districts: Salem-Keizer, Hillsboro and Central. They spoke with OPB Weekend Edition host John Notarianni. Maria Dantas-Whitney is a professor of bilingual and ESOL education, and the coordinator of the Bilingual and Diverse Teacher Scholars Program.īelén Tencos Mendoza is a graduate of the program and a teacher at Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro. The Bilingual and Diverse Teacher Scholars Program offers scholarships and support to students who are training to educate the next generation of Oregonians. That shortage is especially severe when it comes to bilingual teachers, even as the demographics of some communities continue to change.Ī program at Western Oregon University is reaching into Oregon’s communities to train more bilingual people to become teachers and getting them into classrooms in local communities. With the fall semester underway, schools across Oregon are facing a shortage of teachers. That same report shows that Oregon communities are diversifying more quickly than our teaching workforce: since 2020, Oregon’s population of ethnically and linguistically diverse students increased by 3.9%, while employed teachers only grew by 1.3%.
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