Third grader at Glen Arden Elementary, Alora Rice, has found a sneaky way to mess with her parents.
“Sometimes I just [speak in Spanish] at home to confuse my parents,” Alora said.
Alora has been enrolled in the “SPLASH” Program at Glen Arden for the past four years. She is learning in two languages through the school’s Spanish Immersion Program.
Students at Glen Arden are already speaking conversational Spanish, as well as executing grade-level academic work. The program is available to children in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The school does not teach Spanish as a class, but rather all of the other academic courses are taught in Spanish. The program is a full day of immersion for the students, which began as a kindergarten class in the 2011-2012 school year. Glen Arden has 134 students enrolled in SPLASH this school year.
According to Third Grade teacher Luz Maria Rodriguez, the pupils are becoming nearly fluent by the time they reach second grade.
“Students are able to produce and learn in both languages simultaneously. It is fantastic to see how the little kids from the beginning of the program are like little sponges that absorb everything we give to them,” Rodriguez said.
According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, youth who are bilingual outscore their peers on standardized testing versus those who do not take a language in elementary school. In particular, language students had much higher scores in the math sections dealing with problem solving.
“In general our kids have very good [testing] scores-- and they are tested in English. Although, the kids have received instruction in Spanish, they are fluent and are able to work in the two languages without problems,” Rodriguez said.
Research also indicates that cognitive benefits in memory and taking in new information comes with learning a second language, according to the New York Times story on bilingual education in 2011.
Because of programs like SPLASH, local teachers believe Spanish at Roberson will be different in the coming years. The all-day program at Glen Arden, as well as other local half day immersion programs like the one at Avery’s Creek Elementary, will likely result in an increase of higher-level courses across high schools in Buncombe County.
“Many students will probably come directly into high school doing AP [Spanish] by testing out of other levels, and they will still get credit for [those Spanish levels].There will be more higher level than lower level courses-- the opposite of how it is right now,” Spanish teacher Patricia Baud said. “This really raises the bar for high school Spanish.”
The classes at Glen Arden Elementary are taught by native speakers in a partnership with the Visiting International Faculty organization.
While this means the Spanish that students are learning is authentic, according to Baud, it could be the one negative aspect of the program.
“Normally that kindergarten teacher would be your American who lives down the street, but they are bringing in native speakers to teach those classes. It is pushing a lot of people, who would otherwise have that position, out,” Baud said.
The program has continued with the first kindergarten class who are now in fifth grade at Koontz Intermediate. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, there are plans for growth of the program in sixth grade.
“One of Buncombe County’s initiatives is to be more global, so [the administration] thought we could bring in dual language teachers to start up the Spanish Immersion Programs,” Glen Arden Principal Kristina Specht said.
“My favorite part about the SPLASH Program is learning a different language, and learning [about] all their cultures. Someday I want to travel around the world and see the countries. I think it gives me a lot of opportunities” third grader Alora said.
Third grader Georgina Ex said she is already beginning to see the benefits of being enrolled in the program.
“I think it’s really useful. I feel really good, because I know more than a lot of third graders, and it’s an advantage to be able to speak two languages,” Georgina said. “Sometimes I talk about my cat [in Spanish].”