Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Ethnic Sounds: River Glen School's artist-in-residence Victor Santos, along with a group of fourth-grade students, sing in Spanish as part of a welcoming committee to teachers visiting the school from the California Association for Bilingual Education.




River Glen School creates notable 'oasis of Spanish' in Willow Glen

Bilingual school used as model for teachers, schools across state

By Kate Carter

Willow Glen's own River Glen School was lauded by school teachers and administrators, parents and students earlier this month as bilingual educators from across California came together to San Jose to share techniques and support.

The California Association for Bilingual Education held its 27th annual conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center Jan. 31 through Feb. 3, but for some, the highlight of the event was a trip to River Glen School Feb. 1 to see how the model of two-way bilingual immersion has achieved its success.

Two busloads of conference participants arrived at the school on Broadway Avenue to a chorus of fourth-graders--both Latino and Anglo--singing in Spanish. They were then conducted to the multi-purpose room to hear members of the student council tell them--in both English and Spanish--about River Glen's special qualities.

River Glen is a kindergarten through eighth grade magnet school in the San Jose Unified School District. It uses both English and Spanish in its classrooms to teach the children who choose to attend to become fluent in the two languages. Testing data, research and anecdotal evidence show that it has been successful.

But more than becoming bilingual and bi-literate, students at River Glen become familiar with different cultures and comfortable with different people, in an environment that encourages children to share themselves and celebrate their unique qualities.

"English is the language of power; at River Glen, we create an oasis of Spanish," Principal Cecilia Barrie told approximately 80 educators and parents. "We saw what was happening in bilingual education, and we believed all students could learn together. Over the years, we've just kind of developed this."


Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Bilingual Aptitude: Itzel Vargas, 10, studies her Spanish science book during class at River Glen School in Willow Glen.




Two Languages, One Effort

What was happening in bilingual education when River Glen was first conceived was that Spanish-speaking students were being separated from English-speaking students and taught in their native language until they were capable of learning in English. But some educators were concerned that not only was that form of bilingual education not working, but it was downgrading the ability to speak Spanish rather than encouraging the value of knowing two languages.

A two-way bilingual immersion program was added 16 years ago at Washington Elementary School, which already offered a bilingual education program. Its structure and curriculum were developed by the state Department of Education, based on forms of bilingual education used in bilingual Quebec, Canada, where both French and English are spoken in its classrooms. Several years later, the bilingual program was moved to a separate school site all its own and named River Glen School. (It has since moved again to its current location, and the district built the new Ernesto Galarza Elementary School at its previous location at the corner of Pine and Bird avenues.)

"For us, Spanish is always maintained," Barrie told the Willow Glen Resident. "People take a foreign language in high school and college and don't master it. Here, the students are truly bilingual and bi-literate. We believe that bilingualism is a definite asset, in the job world and in interpersonal relations."

River Glen has about 530 students, 60 in each grade, Barrie said. About 70 percent of its students are Hispanic, she said, with 60 percent English-speaking and 40 percent Spanish-speaking, and 40 percent receive free or reduced lunches. It operates on a "90-10" model of dual immersion, which starts students in kindergarten receiving 90 percent of their education in Spanish and 10 percent in English. The ratio changes by a factor of 10 percent as students progress until they are receiving 50-50 Spanish-English instruction.

Because of the progression in language instruction, success hinges on students remaining in the program consistently for five to seven years. Students at River Glen can only transfer into the school after first grade if they are coming from another bilingual program.

Language is taught through the instruction of other subjects, and River Glen students use the same or similar textbooks as other students in the district, although they may be in Spanish.

Teachers, who all have native-like fluency in both English and Spanish, speak entirely in the language in which they are instructing and do not make direct translations. Instead, Barrie said, they use gestures and pictures to help non-native speakers understand, "very much like a child learns his or her first language. By staying in one language, it avoids that cutting of corners, that mish-mash of language."

However, students can and do help translate for each other.

"A good immersion classroom is not quiet," Barrie said. "Students not only learn from the teacher, but from each other. That is the magic of immersion."

At the same time the program was developing at Washington Elementary School, the district was developing a magnet school program in an effort to voluntarily desegregate its schools. River Glen magnet resource teacher Linda Luporini-Hakmi, who has been with the school since it began, said River Glen students experience the goals of desegregation.

"This program allows students from two main groups to come together, learn from each other and honor each other," she said. "It will help in the long run when students are citizens and voters. It's so natural; the kids naturally come together if you create that environment for them."

The school expanded its program to include a middle school four years ago. And it obtained a waiver from the state to be exempt from recently passed state laws, authorized when voters approved Proposition 227, that prohibit much bilingual instruction. It now hosts monthly tours for educators who want to learn about immersion programs. And state Department of Education spokesman Doug Stone said state Superintendent Delaine Eastin supports bilingual immersion education.

Barrie said River Glen students score well on both Spanish-language and English-language standardized tests. The school's Academic Performance Index scores for statewide standardized testing conducted last year show all students averaging 705, which is considered slightly better than high performing. Hispanic students scored an average of 658; Anglo students scored 792; and economically and socially disadvantaged students scored 633.

Luporini-Hakmi said that independent research conducted on the East Coast has shown that immersion education works, and that students who maintain their native language learn better in other languages.

But the advantages to dual-immersion are reflected in more than just test scores and research results.

"The other really important thing, in addition to learning language, is that our children are all integrated," Barrie said. "They learn to get along with people of different races and cultures. In our school, it creates an equal playing field--we give value to Spanish and therefore to Spanish speakers."

"Our students speak a second language at a very natural rate," Luporini-Hakmi said. "We're really in it to show and to prove that Spanish-speaking students can achieve."


Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Tiny Tour Guides: Ana Daniela Acosta, 5, and Diego Barriga, 6, give a tour of their kindergarten class at River Glen School to visiting teachers who are members of the California Association for Bilingual Education.




Success in Spite of Criticism

River Glen's success is based largely on the support it has from parents, teachers and administrators, who all work to make the program work. Barrie said the choice parents make to send their children to River Glen is coupled with a commitment to keep their children in the program and remain involved in the school.

"Parents are involved in every facet of the program," Barrie said.

Parent Alicia Cortez is one example--she works as a substitute teacher, sometimes for long periods of time, at River Glen. Her son, Ricardo, 16, went all the way through River Glen and is now a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory; son Emilio, 11, is in sixth grade and daughter Lorena, 5, is in kindergarten. Her family speaks English at home, she said, but she and her husband wanted their children to be able to communicate with their family members who speak Spanish.

"The main reason is our connection with the language and keeping the culture in our family," Cortez said. "I realized I was going to lose the language and I'd better do something."

She said the only reason to not put their children in River Glen was the fear that their English wouldn't be strong enough by the time they were in high school. She faced those fears three years ago when Ricardo was assigned to the hardest freshman English teacher at Bellarmine.

"We were very concerned as to how he would be able to keep up in English," she said. But by the end of the year, he was one of the few students in the class to receive an A.

"To me, that just proves that his English did not suffer," she said.

Parent Marilyn Dion's daughter, Christine, 14, went through River Glen and is now a freshman at Presentation High School.

"I don't think she's suffered at all academically in high school," Dion said of her daughter.


Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Bilingual Advocate: River Glen Principal Cecilia Barrie stands next to a banner in the main office proclaiming the school's bilingual education commitment to its students.




The Dions chose to send Christine and their other daughter, Laura, 10, in fifth grade, to River Glen to "give them a broader sense of the world." Marilyn and her husband don't speak Spanish, she said, but the family took a month-long home stay trip to Costa Rica two years ago so Marilyn could develop Spanish skills. Her children had no problem getting along in Costa Rica, she said, and they are able to speak with family members of their school friends who don't speak English.

The school has a waiting list of more than 100, Barrie said. But River Glen still faces its share of criticism from those who think bilingual education doesn't emphasize English enough, she said.

"There are people clamoring for it, and others who don't believe it," Barrie said. "But we're a magnet school--any student can choose to come here, 'every person is here because they chose to be. We don't have to fight any of those political battles."

Linda Lepeilbet, a kindergarten teacher at a regular bilingual school near Redding, visited River Glen to learn more about implementing a dual-immersion program at her school to try to raise its low standardized test scores. She said before she went to the conference and visited River Glen, she was unconvinced about dual-immersion, and still has some concerns.

"I would like to see it more balanced between Anglo and Hispanic; that's one of my concerns," Lepeilbet said. "I would also like to see the social adjustment at the end of it. I would like to see a study done on that."

The biggest challenge to beginning a dual-immersion program is getting parents to agree to commit to it, which is a lot to expect from people who want to make sure their children can speak English.

"It's a five-to-seven-year commitment that they won't take them out of the program," she said. "That's a huge leap of faith and a huge commitment, to have faith in the transition process. Before reading and writing, [Spanish-speaking parents] want [their children] to learn to speak English."

But Lepeilbet says she does now see what dual-immersion programs like River Glen's can accomplish.

"The children are learning a lot, are advanced, well-adjusted--it's pretty hard to deny," she said. "They have a high rate of success--I saw kindergarten children writing paragraphs. I was impressed with what they have achieved."

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