Key Elementary School Questions
Jonathan Loomis
September 23, 1998
Field Experience
Professor Chace
The overall student population is almost five hundred, so each grade level has approximately one hundred students.
The principal indicated that the overall Asian and African American percentage is under five. However, she also indicated that the Arlington school system has made a strong push in the past few years to recruit these students and noted that there is a much higher minority, non-Hispanic population in the lowest three grades. I noticed a few African American students in the upper grades, but did not get the chance to see the lower grades.
Each class should have had about fifty students, based on the school's overall population. However, I don't believe I saw any class with more than thirty-five students. I would say that the average class size was around thirty.
The teachers spoke only in the language of their particular classroom, naturally leading to a proficiency in understanding. I was a bit disappointed to note that the students did not speak Spanish with each other always when they were in the Spanish classrooms. In many cases the native-Spanish students would switch to English to communicate with their English-speaking friends. However, some of the Native-English students did choose using Spanish to communicate with their Latino friends. I could not tell if they used Spanish with each other. I was also a bit disappointed in that science and especially math did not appear to lend themselves well to learning a second language. There was not much reading and writing that the students were expected to do in Spanish.
The special education program took place within the context of the immersion program. It appeared that each classroom was also the home of one of the special education teachers and although the special instruction may have taken place in another location, it was done equally in Spanish as in English. Because the special education instructors were based in the regular classrooms, they were clearly up to date with the immersion process of the students.
I was most impressed with the fact that students that clearly would not have had any Spanish education in a regular elementary school were becoming proficient in the language without even knowing it. They were being given the gift of bilingualism, which they will value later in life so much more than they can understand right now. A clear example of this was in the third grade room when I saw a native-English student become upset with the work her Hispanic partner was doing and confidently raised her voice and spoke out in Spanish.
Outside of what the school district might offer, it did not appear that there was any special mentoring program for the bilingual teachers at Key. The principal clearly indicated that the teachers were hired for their professionalism and were essentially on their own once school started.
It seemed from what the principal noted that the most important support parents could give to Key's success was their financial support in the form of the recently passed mileage. This mileage allowed the school to renovate (and move). She also noted that parents had to be patient when their children became frustrated with the second language and with the fact that in many cases they would not be able to help them due to the language barrier.