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Ypsilanti Puentes Multilingual School
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: This is 89.1 WEMU. I'm Caroline MacGregor. And today, we are going to be talking about a dual-language program at Ypsilanti Community Schools' Puentes Multilingual School, which is dedicated to language development in early childhood. With me today is kindergarten teacher Viviana Iturbe and professional learning consultant Melissa Brooks. Viviana, tell me a little bit more about this program.
Viviana Iturbe: So, our program is not new. This is actually our fifth year. We just got our new building last fall. And what we do is we're a Spanish immersion program. So, we start with 90% of Spanish in kindergarten, and it gradually changes. For example, in second grade, it will go to 80% Spanish, 20% English. And in third grade, it will be 70% Spanish, 30% English, and so on, until we get to fourth grade. And after that, it's 50-50. So, it becomes totally dual language. And this immersion program has many benefits. One of them is, obviously, the children will be bilingual. And there's many studies and research that show that bilingual students perform better or give better outcome at different national tests.
Caroline MacGregor: Melissa, I'd like to ask you a little bit about a research grant that, I believe, you were recently awarded. Tell me about this if you would.
Melissa Brooks: Yes. So, Viviana and I applied for a grant through the National Council Teachers of English, and the grant is specifically for teacher action research. So, I've worked with Ypsilanti Community Schools over the last 14 years, but, specifically, over the past four on teacher action research, which is a cycle of inquiry that teachers can do that honors their expertise, and they conduct real classroom research, so study questions from their own classroom, gather evidence and then refine their practice in ways that improve their instruction and benefit students. So, NCTE offered this grant that would fund the time and the research. We're co-researchers in this project on Viviana's question on her instruction with bilingual instruction. And so, it covers materials, it covers our time to gather the research we get to present in November at their national conference in Philadelphia. And really, it's about looking at Viviana's teacher expertise, looking at some solutions that she might find to instructional issues that come up with practical research. It's her expertise that's honored, and she can look at those, look at the evidence. So, I go in about once a week and observe and take observational notes and look at student work. We keep all the data. And then, soon here, we'll be looking over it together with this current group of students. We'll do a mid-research project report to NCTE. And then, we'll pick up again in the fall with new group of kindergartners that she'll have and continue the research and continue gathering data to see what instructional effectiveness it had with her question on bridging English-to-Spanish or Spanish-to-English instruction. And she can talk more specifically about the instruction part there, but I'm working with her specifically as a co-researcher and data support partner.
Caroline MacGregor: Okay. And just to clarify, Melissa, you're a professional learning consultant, so you work with different schools. Correct?
Melissa Brooks: I do. I've worked for the last 14 years across the county. And now, I work with new teachers across the county, but also specifically with YCS and teacher action research. I also teach at Eastern Michigan with pre-service teachers.
Caroline MacGregor: Viviana, I'll ask you this. I believe you have a specific project titled "Bridging Language, Honoring Identity: The Impact of Scaffolded Bilingual Bridging on Spanish Language Development." What does this project explore exactly?
Viviana Iturbe: So, the study explores how scale-folded bilingual bridging supports Spanish language development in my kindergarten Spanish immersion program, but mostly in an immersion program. And I focus specifically on how short intentional bridges between Spanish and English help students strengthen vocabulary retention and the use of more complete oral sentences and transfer language across content areas.
Caroline MacGregor: I love that title: "Bridging Language, Honoring Identity." You know, that seems very important here. Maybe explain a little bit more about how the identity plays a role in this language immersion.
Viviana Iturbe: Yeah. So, my hope with this research--one of my hopes--is that teachers live in multilingual learners, not as a challenge to fix, but as a strength to build from. And that students feel empowered for the fact that they are bilingual, and they have to know that they don't have to leave one language behind to become someone else. They already are someone. And adding another language, it just builds on them. Like, it makes them....I don't want to say better, but it makes who they are with an addition.
Caroline MacGregor: If you're just joining us, we are talking about a dual language program at Ypsilanti Puentes Multilingual School. Viviana, what percentage of students are participating in these classes?
Viviana Iturbe: So, I have 17 students, and four out of those 17 students are Spanish speakers, and the rest are English speakers. So, I would say like 80% are native English speakers, and the rest are Spanish speakers. It changes every year. So, last year, I had 50-50. But this year, it's a little bit different.
Caroline MacGregor: And how often do the classes take place?
Viviana Iturbe: So, we have full days from Monday to Friday, from 8:15 to 3:15. And we're Spanish immersion, so it's all day long, except for the English portion. That's half an hour.
Caroline MacGregor: And tell me about the benefits to teachers, as well as children, when it comes to being bilingual and these classes for Spanish immersion.
Viviana Iturbe: Well, what I can say in my classroom with kids being bilingual at such a young age, they have better vocabulary growth, better sentence formation, better pronunciation, stronger writing, more confidence. And I see the student identity affirmation. So, the biggest impact is not only stronger vocabulary use, but the confidence that students develop in using the language without fear.
Caroline MacGregor: Melissa, I know that this grant is going to make a big difference in helping to generate insights that can help educators and institutions, but I believe you have to gather findings from this program to do a national presentation. Tell me about this.
Melissa Brooks: The National Council of Teachers of English is a professional organization for any teachers that focus on language instruction, particularly English. But they're also an advocate for teachers developing their own professional learning, so focusing on the inquiry process and analyzing patterns of their own teaching and supporting themselves and sharing what they learn with each other. So, teachers learning from teachers and teachers being their own researchers. And it's important, too, because we're given this time and the funding to spend careful time to really look at instruction. And I'm happy that I am able to go in as a co-researcher and watch Viviana and her instruction focusing on strengthening the student's vocabulary and their sentence development and confidence, like she said, and engagement in Spanish. So, learning from that and learning from her instruction and learning from how she looks at that data and makes changes in her instruction and how we're able to put that together and share it with a larger audience of teachers really from all over the world, that's a national conference that they have every year, but I've been a part of it for my entire career of 26 years in education. So, we'll have an audience there of not only interested teachers, but other researchers, pre-service teachers who can learn from our research and from Viviana's instruction and what she's learned from examining it closely and looking at student data.
Caroline MacGregor: Viviana, it does seem that the Ypsilanti Community School District is very innovative when it comes to ways to drive or further education for students in the area. How will this affect the community as far as these children being able to be bilingual and their futures here in Washtenaw County?
Viviana Iturbe: That's a great question. I think, yes, you're right. Our district, they invest a lot in our scholars and in their education. And I think they see it as a strength to build not a barrier. It's not like a barrier to overcome, but it's an opportunity to provide to these students to be bilingual.
Caroline MacGregor: Melissa, you wanted to add to that.
Melissa Brooks: So, just thinking about my time working with Ypsilanti Community Schools over the last several years, they have incredible educators and students and families. I've spent so much time there, I can see that now. But I really enjoy doing teacher action research with the teachers because I feel like it strengthens their classroom from the inside out, so that teachers really get a chance to see themselves as professionals and researchers and invest in themselves. And a lot of educational leaders have come out of that when they feel the confidence of being in control of their own professional learning and research in the classroom.
Caroline MacGregor: Viviana, anything else that you'd like to add?
Viviana Iturbe: Well, I maybe just want to add that the research that we're doing, what we hope also is to show that bilingual bridging and being bilingual matters because it helps students see that their languages work together instead of competing with one another. And rather than asking children to leave one language behind, this validates what they already know and use it for deeper learning. So, we know that learning transfers from one language to one another. So, this is a plus. And this not just only improves their vocabulary and sentence formation, but it honors their identity and builds confidence in their voices.
Caroline MacGregor: I've been speaking with Viviana Iturbe, she's a teacher at YCS, and Melissa Brooks, who is a professional learning consultant. And we've been discussing a dual language program at Puentes Multilingual School in Ypsilanti. Thank you to both of you for joining me today!
Melissa Brooks: You're welcome!
Viviana Iturbe: Thank you!
Caroline MacGregor: And this is 89.1 WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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