Willow Glen Resident

Education

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

It Works: River Glen School celebrated its 20th anniversary on June 3. The successful two-way bilingual immersion program was one of the first pilot programs in the country. Its three founding teachers (from left) Maria Nevarez-Nasser, Linda Luporini-Hakmi and Deborah Arambula, along with principal Mildred Arellano enjoyed seeing former students, staff and parents.

River Glen program reunites staff, students 20 years later

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

Willow Glen's River Glen School celebrated the 20th anniversary of its two-way bilingual immersion program with a reunion of alumni and staff.

Class photos of students from the beginning of the program in 1986 to current students were set on display for more than 200 alumni to enjoy.

Former staff from as far as Arizona and Florida made the journey back to the school's June 3 picnic and barbecue.

"It was incredible just talking to them," principal Mildred Arellano says. "All of these young adults, either in high school or college talking about how they were going to be doctors or civil engineers. The River Glen community that has been built here lives on with these students."

The community is the result of many years of collaborative effort among families, students and teachers.

"The two-way bilingual immersion program has been around through the changes of the current, through the ups and downs in the district," Arellano says.

The program continues to thrive, with more than 100 families on a waiting list. Arellano credits the school's two decades of success to community and stability.

"There's little staff movement, and they stay dedicated and loyal to the program," Arellano says. "Students as well, for the most part are here from kindergarten through eighth grade."

The program at River Glen was developed by the California Department of Education 20 years ago, says Willow Glen resident and founding teacher Linda Luporini-Hakmi.

"There were many bilingual programs at the time," Luporini-Hakmi says. "Some were successful, some were not."

In Canada, the education system had immersion programs where young students would learn French along with English. The immersion program was so successful that the model was used throughout the United States. Depending on the cultural concentration in each area, immersion programs were available in German, French, Japanese and, in California, Spanish.

In 1986, the state took the best of their existing bilingual programs and the immersion programs throughout the country and formed a two-way bilingual immersion pilot program.

In order for this program to be successful, it had to have salient features and an eight-point plan, Luporini-Hakmi says.

The first necessary element was the program's duration. It had to be established to operate for a minimum of five to seven years to allow it to succeed. The second factor was a monolingual approach, meaning the languages would be separated and taught one at a time. The third element was that students would learn from one another. The fourth was training for the teachers. The fifth would be maintaining high academic standards, even before those standards were implemented, Luporini-Hakmi says. The sixth was parent input.

"The program is a voluntary one, and we had to figure out how to bring together both Spanish-speaking parents and English-speaking parents," she says.

The seventh element was an interactive model. Students are taught in a positive environment in order to learn the language. It also meant that teachers and students share time to talk and interact.

"This last criterion is what makes the two-way immersion program at River Glen so special," Luporini-Hakmi says.

School districts that were chosen to be part of this pilot program included San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Monica.

The first school in San Jose to have the program was Washington School.

From there, the program moved to the River Glen location, which was formerly known as Washington at River Glen, Luporini-Hakmi says. Willow Glen was chosen because of its central location. Students come from all over San Jose to attend this magnet school.

The school offers English-speaking youth an opportunity to learn another language in a public school setting, says Willow Glen resident and founding teacher Deborah Arambula.

Arambula says she has stayed with the program since its inception because it's remained an incredible community.

"The commitment level from both teachers and staff make it rewarding," she says. "We are always trying to improve. There's always something new."

Willow Glen resident and the school's third founding teacher Maria Nevarez-Nasser says she decided to stay with the program because, like her co-founders, she believes in the program.

"We are like a family," Nevarez-Nasser says. "We work together with the same goals in mind. We are all like a family. We share the same values."

Luporini-Hakmi says values become evident by watching and listening to the students on the playground during recess.

"It's a very integrated community," Luporini-Hakmi says. "The students need each other's language to learn and that carries on after River Glen. It opens up the world for these kids."