Are you a bilingual (Spanish) undergraduate at UCI and would like to know more about how you can practice your Spanish with students attending a dual immersion program near campus? Are you interested in becoming a bilingual teacher? Please come to this information session this Thursday, 3/14/13, at noon, to learn more about dual immersion programs and how you can become a bilingual teacher.
RSVP by 5 pm on Tuesday, 3/12/13.
See flyer for more information: Become a Bilingual Tutor or Teacher
If you are fluent in Spanish, Mandarin or French and are graduating this year with your bachelor’s degree, consider a career in teaching. There are many bilingual teaching positions available; dual-language immersion programs at the elementary and secondary level are growing in California and other states (see recent Bilingual Teacher Facebook posts).
The School of Education at the University of California, Irvine is offering a $1,500 incentive to all applicants interested in receiving a teacher credential in one of their programs. Eligibility requirements and specific information regarding this incentive is as follows:
Applicants who complete their file by March 4, 2013, if admitted and matriculated in fall 2013, will receive a Startup Cost Incentive of $1,500 USD after the third week of fall quarter enrollment.
A complete file includes: application, statement of purpose, official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, letters of recommendation, Certificate of Clearance, TB Test, verification of CBEST & CSET passage or evidence of registration, and GRE scores or verification of registration for test date if an MAT application.
If you are interested in teaching at a dual-immersion school or a world language at the secondary level, you are also eligible for a TEACH Grant that is worth approximately $4,000.
It’s a good time to become a bilingual teacher!
For more information and updates about the incentive, please see: UCI School of Education Startup Cost Incentive
The Mandarin immersion program at Bergeson Elementary School, in Laguna Niguel, is off to a great start. During a recent visit, I was greeted by youngsters that were not only happy to be in a classroom, but eager to learn in a language that is not heard in their homes. They were actively engaged in the lessons that were presented in Mandarin and could complete the multiple, often cognitively demanding tasks that were given to them.
Currently, the program includes one pre-kindergarten, two kindergarten and one first grade class. All of the bilingual teachers are certified in Mandarin and have other special talents too. One of the kindergarten teachers majored in music. Her paraprofessional also studied music. Singing songs accompanied by the piano are heard on a daily basis in her room (see video insert: Bilingual Kindergarten Classroom). There are also paraprofessionals in the other classrooms. This was made possible by the non-profit parent organization, Friends of MIP (Mandarin Immersion Program), created to support the program. They have raised $95,000 this year and are on pace to raise another $55,000, to bring the total up to $150,000.
The school will be hiring next year and they have already started the recruitment process. For employment opportunities, please see: Edjoin post
For more information about enrolling your child at this school, please see: http://www.friendsofmip.com/enrollment.html.
The program shows great promise and will definitely grow in popularity as each year passes. There was a long waitlist before the program opened, and I am sure this magnet school will continue to attract strong bilingual teachers in the years to come.
Orange Unified School District recently announced that they will be opening a Mandarin dual language immersion program at Fletcher Elementary School for the new 2012-13 academic year. This will be the second public Mandarin dual language immersion program in Orange County, California. The district plans on opening their program with one kindergarten and one first grade class. The program will be based on Utah’s successful dual language immersion instructional model. The district is currently accepting new students for their program.
The first public Mandarin dual language immersion program in Orange County will also open this fall in Laguna Niguel at Bergeson Elementary School. Bergeson’s program will open with two kindergarten classes and one first grade class. Frequently asked questions regarding the program at Bergeson Elementary can be found on their Friends of MIP (Mandarin Immersion Program) website. They began recruiting students in November of 2011 and have a long wait list.
More than 10,000 graduating high school seniors earned the new State Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas this past June. This is the first time that the state has given out this award. In the past, school districts awarded their own Seal of Biliteracy Awards to students based on their own set of criteria. In order to qualify for the new State Seal of Biliteracy, all students in California will need to meet a uniform set of criteria which includes strong proficiency in both the English-language arts and a world language.
Good to know that our students in our dual language programs will be preparing for this high school seal when they enter kindergarten. I am sure the number of students receiving the State Seal of Biliteracy will continue to increase as the number of dual language immersion programs grow throughout our state and nation.
I was intrigued by this article since the subjects were adoptees of Korean descent raised in a French speaking home. Although I am not an adoptee, I am half Korean and was raised in a predominately Spanish speaking home. I grew up in a household where the Korean language was heard on a daily basis when my father spoke to relatives and when he watched his telivision shows in Korean. At the behest of teachers, he spoke to his children only in English; one decision he regrets to this day. Although I do not speak the language fluently, I still understand it at a very rudimentary phonetic level and can distinguish it from other Asian languages. So, not totally forgotten…
Psychology Today, 7/11/12: Can a Language be Totally Forgotten?
Upon researching employment opportunities for various dual immersion teaching positions in the area, I came across the New City Public Schools in Long Beach, California. They include three public charter schools located in relatively close proximity to one another near the downtown area of Long Beach. In an era where class size is increasing for all grade levels, the New City Public Schools include a low class size of 20 students in all primary grade classrooms and have teaching assistants for grades K-3, according to their fact sheet. This, as well as a strong community based approach, multi-age classrooms, and strong emphasis on bilingualism, make this group of charter schools extremely attractive for new teachers and parents with similar interests and goals.
All New City Public School children are expected to graduate with strong biliteracy skills in English and Spanish. Their instruction in both languages begins in kindergarten and continues onto eighth grade where they employ a 50/50 model in language arts. The first campus opened in August of 2000 and one of the larger campuses, New City School K-8, opened in 2007.
After reading their brochure, it is apparent that these schools offer a high quality program to their students. In addition, they will be a source of future employment for bilingual teachers. Unfortunately, the future of these schools is uncertain. They are experiencing some financial turmoil and possible revocation of their charter; the final decision will be made by the Long Beach Unified School District next month. For now, they are accepting student applications and have bilingual teacher positions available for the 2012-13 academic year.
Stanford University has launched a new website, Understanding Language. The primary goal for this website is to improve academic outcomes for English Language Learners. Various resources such as language-rich teaching practices in various academic areas, related to the new Common Core State Standards, will be coming soon!
Utah offers an impressive array of dual language immersion programs for their elementary school students. In addition to classroom instruction in English, their various state supported dual language programs also include instruction in either Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish. The governor of Utah hopes to increase enrollment in these programs to 30,000 students by 2015, setting a strong example for other states to follow. They currently have 58 dual language immersion programs. The majority of students attending these programs are native English speakers.
The California Association for Bilingual Education awards several teachership awards each year to future bilingual teachers. This year, Melissa Madrigal, one of our bilingual candidates from our teacher education program, was selected for this very prestigious award. Miss Madrigal, and all the other winners, will be honored at CABE’s 37th Annual Awards Luncheon on Thursday, March 8, 2012. Last year, one of our bilingual candidates, Wendy Ramos, was also awarded this honor. She is now a bilingual teacher at a dual immersion school in Santa Ana, CA.
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