The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Breaking Barriers: Former River Glen principal Rosa Molina, who now works as staff-development manager for the San Jose Unified School District, has been to Israel twice to advise the staffs of fledgling Arabic-Hebrew immersion schools there. Former River Glen principal brings dual-language skills to Israeli schools Rosa Molina helps to start a bilingual education program for Jews and Arabs By Cecily Barnes When the Center for Bilingual Education in Israel scanned the world for an expert in bilingual training, its radar pointed to former River Glen Elementary School principal Rosa Molina. At director Lee Gordon's request, Molina flew to Israel for the second time last month and offered a handful of tips to faculty and administration of Israel's fledgling Arabic-Hebrew immersion schools. Molina advised that the children must act as teachers and as language models for each other, and that parents must give their children opportunities to use their second language. In the process, the Arabs and Jews will share their cultures and values with each other. And in Israel, Molina says, the possibilities of such models are vast. "I think ultimately you're going to have this momentum between families and communities that will promote peace," said Molina, who has long championed Spanish-English bilingual immersion schools in California as a way to connect Latino and white communities. The Center for Bilingual Education in Israel has a similar goal, but with much higher stakes, given the nation's history of failed attempts at peace. "It is our goal to create a new model of education in which children, their families and the surrounding community can experience and grow together among values of democracy, mutual respect, and tolerance," Gordon writes. "Ultimately this will make a valuable contribution toward greater coexistence between Arab and Jews in our country." Each school will be directed, taught and attended by both Arabs and Jews. The Jewish Regional Council of Misgav and three Arab towns will jointly determine the school's curriculum, which will be overseen by an Arab-Jewish board of directors and parents. Books will be read in both languages, and field trips will be taken to Arab and Jewish neighborhoods. "Our center is completely egalitarian," Gordon writes. Throughout the rest of Israel, Jewish and Arab children attend separate schools. While visiting the schools, Molina held a discussion with Jewish and Arab parents. The common goal of wanting their kids to succeed, Molina says, gave the parents incentive to work together to that end. "We had them break up into groups and draw a picture of a symbol of what they envisioned for their children," Molina said. "One of them drew a building where each of the pillars had values--love of school, understanding of equality, academic success and community-building." Gordon hopes the bilingual program will help break down stereotypes, prejudices, fears and misunderstandings by teaching students about both Jewish and Arab culture in respectful ways. While most involved with the schools, including Molina, are optimistic about the project's possibilities, others in the Arab community say the "utopian dream" is like putting a Band-Aid on a deep, gaping wound. "The Jewish kids will drive to school on nice, clear open roads, while the Arab kids will drive to school, and their parents will get pulled over by the police and harassed," said Amal Winter, co-chair of the Jewish Arab Muslim American Group. "I don't have anything against the program itself, but in the context of people living in occupied territories, where one side is extremely powerful, there's no way you can consider this an island of egalitarianism, no matter how egalitarian they try to be." Gordon acknowledges that four bilingual schools won't end decades of strife, but it might help a little, he says. "Our school does not pretend to solve all of the problems of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Gordon said. "We are not in the government, and we are not creating a revolution. However, we are creating an important new educational model in which the pupils, parents and surrounding communities can build new and equal Jewish-Arab partnerships." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.