Bilingual Education In The South

Some of Unidos Dual Language Charter School teacher John Rendon's second-graders getting into a lesson. Play the audio to hear what comes next. For more on Unidos school, see Part One of this series. Photo by Dan Carsen.
Alabama / Bilingual Education In The South / Georgia / National / Tennessee / Uncategorized

Bilingual Education In The South, Part Four: “Enormous” Economic Consequences

Students who don’t speak English as their first language – or “language minorities” – rank toward the bottom in almost every measure of academic achievement. Moral and legal concerns aside, even if their population were to stop rising, the situation signifies a looming hit to the national and regional economies. [...]

Tarrant High School junior Angelina Baltazar (left), her mother Maria Baltazar, and ESL teacher Anne Pace. The Baltazars are from Guatemala, but Maria's first language was not Spanish -- it was an isolated Mayan language from western Guatemala and eastern Mexico. Photo by Dan Carsen.
Alabama / Bilingual Education In The South / Georgia / National / Tennessee / Uncategorized

Bilingual Education In The South, Part Three: The Hurdles

Students who don’t speak English as their first language, or “language minorities,” are some of the most socially and economically disadvantaged in our nation and in the South. So far in our series we’ve looked at two dual-language schools (a more common description since the phrase “bilingual schools” became politically [...]

Lesther Martin, a World Language Academy teacher originally from Guatemala, teaches his fourth-graders social studies. Photo by Dan Carsen.
Alabama / Bilingual Education In The South / Georgia / National / Tennessee / Uncategorized

Bilingual Education In The South, Part Two: Another Program Across The Border (In Georgia)

As public schools become more linguistically diverse, some see bilingual or “dual-language” programs as a way to improve education for all – English speakers too. Yesterday we checked out an innovative dual-language school in a low-income Georgia neighborhood just outside Atlanta. Today we’ll visit a program 50 miles to the [...]

Science! These students at Unidos Dual Language Charter School in Clayton County, Georgia are learning their science in Spanish. And there's science to suggest the approach benefits Spanish- and English-speakers alike. Photo by Dan Carsen.
Alabama / Bilingual Education In The South / Georgia / National / Tennessee

Bilingual Education In The South: It Is Happening, Even Here

The number of Latinos in America’s schools is rising faster than any other group’s. And their share of the school population is rising fastest in the South. Many don’t speak English as their first language, making them “language-minorities.” And the question of how best to educate them is becoming crucial in places with little bilingual history – places like Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. So WBHM and the Southern Education Desk are kicking off a four-part series on language-minority education in the South. In Part One, we cross the border (into Georgia) to see an innovative school and a counterintuitive concept in action.