And here it is.  My first gig as a guest blogger.

I also follow a photography site called Shutter Sisters.  They blog, offer online classes, and give subject prompts for photographers to follow and share in order to practice, stretch their skills, and get feedback.  Each month the site owners pick a word, and every day we can post a photographic representation of that word.  In August the word was “adventure”.  At the end of the month they choose a few photos to wrap up the idea.  Mine was one of them.  Pretty cool considering there were at least 800 submissions. I have to give most of the credit to my model, though.  She worked hard all day for this shot.

So yeah, I’m totally famous now.

Violet is starting dual language kindergarten this fall!  This is the culmination of three years of hard work and, while it didn’t turn out exactly how I’d hoped, I am SO excited.  And terrified.  And relieved.  And… well… let’s just say there is a lot to think about.

Here’s our journey in a nutshell:

We moved to Austin after teaching English in Korea for 3 years.  I got into the Foreign Language Education Master’s program at UT.  After Violet was born I wondered what dual language program she would attend, only to realize that there isn’t one here.

So I started my own website to to to mobilize like-minded locals.  Then I joined forces with Austin Community School, a proposed dual language charter, and eventually became board secretary.  This was the only DL game in town.  What happened for the next 3 years was a lesson in how ridiculous, frustrating, and scary bureaucracy and educational politics can be, especially in Texas.   Add this to the usual strains of recruiting and working with volunteers in the world of non-profits and the result is a lot of work for not a lot of reward.

So ACS is not open… yet.  But what about Violet and Graham?  The way dual language education works is that kids start in kinder or 1st grade and stick with the program for at least 5 years.  If Violet misses that window she’s out of luck.

Thankfully a new superintendent swept into Austin, turning the district’s long held belief about bilingual education on its head.  ACS joined in the effort to get a DL program started in AISD.  Their board eventually voted to start 4 pilot programs this fall.

They held a lottery for the limited number of slots, and we won a spot!  Unfortunately, the program isn’t in our neighborhood school.  But it is in a school close to Rob’s work.  He’ll drop Violet off every morning.

So this is the end of the beginning.  Now we see exactly what we’ve gotten ourselves into.  I have ridiculous amounts to say on the subject.  And you know what that means…  a New Blog!  Yes, I’ll be pontificating about dual language immersion and our journey towards becoming a bilingual family.   It’s called “¿Y Ahora Que?” and so far there is absolutely nothing on it.  But put it in your feed reader anyway.

Here’s the deal:  I’ve spent the past two years working on opening this dual language immersion school.  To say it has been an uphill battle is an understatement.  Along with the usual personality conflicts, we’ve got the “You’re in America!  Speak American!” attitude to contend with.  (To which I have to say, “DUH.  Of course we want everyone to speak English.  We just want Americans to catch up with the rest of the world and learn another language when it’s easy: as a kid!  If you’d stop thinking the U.S.A. is at the center of the universe for one flipping second you’d realize that we’re putting the ourselves and the country at a huge disadvantage.”)

Well, the good news is that on July 16th, we may have our last chance to win a charter for Austin Community dual language school.  For those of you not in Texas, the government here puts a cap on the number of charters (don’t even get me started on the idiocy of that policy).  The only way we can get a charter is to wait for another one to fail.  The problem for us is that the dual language programs really only let kids join in kindergarten or first grade.  Violet starts kinder next year.  So the clock is ticking.  She may not get another shot at this.

To me, this issue is so important we’ve considered moving from Austin to somewhere that offers a dual language immersion education.  It just boggles my mind that every parent in the country isn’t beating down the school board doors to demand this.

But I digress.  I could digress all day.  So I’ll stop and ask you to help Violet and Graham have the chance to learn another language so they’ll be able to tell secrets right in front of my face.  Or get really really good jobs in the future. Here are 4 ways to do it:

1. Donate $10. The State Board wants to see money in the bank. Just ten dollars from all of our supporters would boost our bottom line quickly. Keep in mind that a) we are a non-profit, so your donations are tax deductible and b) many companies match non-profit donations, so check with your employer. (Paypal button here)
2. Spread the word. Send 2 people (or more) information about ACS. Link them to our website, our Facebook & Twitter accounts, or give them our flyer. Keep in mind that our content is in Spanish and English, so don’t hesitate to contact Spanish speakers.
3. Send the State Board a letter. Tell them you want this school. Use our form letter or, better yet, your own words. (see below)
4. Come to our presentation! July 16th at 1 p.m. in the Room 1-111 of the William B. Travis Building. We need to show the Board that ACS has community support. Having a group behind us during our 10 minutes will tip the decision in our favor. (click here for the map).

Thank you Thank you!!

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(send the following to sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us)

Dear State Board of Education Members,

I am very interested in having Austin Community School improve our educational choices in Austin. This dual language (DL) and international baccalaureate (IB) school brings two highly effective educational programs together to develop all students—regardless of their home language and economic status– into English- and Spanish-speakers who can read, write, and work in both languages. The IB curriculum supports DL by equipping students with the skills to learn and acquire knowledge, individually or collaboratively, and to apply these skills and knowledge across a broad range of areas. ACS students become life-long learners, who are well prepared for college and our changing global workplace. Many universities require the ability to think creatively and problem-solve but also call for a second language. In addition, multiple language fluency is increasingly required to work in business, the military, the government, or education.

Children from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and races will work together in the same classroom at ACS, becoming resources for each other. This program is based on the ideal 50/50 enrollment of Spanish- and English-speaking students. Research proves that African-American, Latino, and Caucasians from all demographics who have completed dual language programs become academically and conversationally fluent in Spanish and English, graduate, and go on to college at high rates.

Facts About Dual Language (DL) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs:

• DL and IB schools employ specially trained high quality teachers
• ACS replicates long-successful European and Canadian DL and IB programs
• Public DL programs are now offered and successful in most major cities in the USA including San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, El Paso
• DL students exhibit increased cognitive skills and self-esteem
• Longitudinal studies show DL dramatically increases state test scores
• Only DL closes the achievement gap for 2nd language English-learners
• DL is more effective for students below grade level than remedial ESL programs
• DL is structured to accommodate the fact that we learn languages best as children

I want a DL IB program for the future of my family, Austin and Texas.  Please vote for Austin Community School on July 16th.

Sincerely,

______________

And then I discovered ACS. I’ve been to every public meeting since last summer and kept in touch with the organizers to see what I could do to help. They’re turning in their application this month to become an Austin charter school teaching regular content in English and Spanish with a well known and well tested curriculum called International Baccalaureate. If they’re approved, doors will open next fall for Kindergarten and 1st grade. Violet will join in 2010.

So. I’m on the board with a group of people up to their eyeballs in advanced degrees, very impressive qualifications and expertise. I think I’m the token Parent of Young Children. But I’ll take it. Like I said, I’m obsessed. I know this can work. Case in point: the other day we were taking a walk to the middle school where neighborhood families play pick-up soccer in the athletic field. Violet and another little girl her age spotted each other, grabbed hands and went sprinting off down the track. Neither spoke the other’s language, but that didn’t stop them from talking to each other nonstop. They had a blast. Violet came away from that 15 minutes knowing a couple words of Spanish, which she still hasn’t forgotten because she learned them playing in the real world, not in an hour class twice a week. THAT is how you’re supposed to learn a language.

And what I said about men being more of a challenge is seriously not sexist. So don’t be getting all Dr. Laura on me. Having said that, it’s totally anecdotal. I’ve just noticed, as have many ESL teachers I’ve worked with, that a larger percentage of men (especially older than, say, 22) seem to struggle more with language than the larger percentage of women. I have no idea why. I’m sure there’s a study out there that looks into that, but I haven’t read it. My other theory is that people who can play a musical instrument also do better with languages, especially in terms of pronunciation. I’m guessing it has something to do with being able to pick out the subtleties of sound. After all, if you can’t hear the differences, you can’t duplicate them.

Despite all my pontification on the subject, I still find it extremely difficult to teach pronunciation. Teaching conversation is fun, but sometimes it feels like an exercise in futility. I know students go out and make the same mistakes they’ve been making for years, regardless of how many times I “correct” them in class. Worse yet, students don’t go out and make mistakes at all. They just never use the second language in a natural environment. Lord knows that’ll never work. (Thus, my obsession with dual language school.) But, hey, I did the same thing when we lived in Korea. After struggling with communication all day, it’s nice to come home and relax into your first language.

Keunyang.

Oh, I also want to say that Uncle Joe has been an award-winning babysitter, making it possible for me to even teach this class. V-Chip loves him. Maybe we should actually pay him sometime…

What? There are NO dual language immersion schools in Austin? What the…? Clearly there must be some mistake.

No. Austin, the oasis of blue weird in a sea of conservative red, does not have this kind of program. Apparently the schoolboard mindset here leans back 60 years to a time when people thought trying to cram two languages into one brain was a hinderance to education rather than a boon. So now the policy is subtractive bilingualism; trying to “cure” students of their first language so they can succeed academically. And yet, so many studies have shown, and anyone bilingual knows, that functioning in two languages actually improves cognition.

And isn’t it insane that American society doesn’t encourage multilingualism? Especially in this increasingly global world? Doesn’t language open up doors and cultures and career paths? Don’t we want our kids to have that opportunity? This doesn’t seem like an issue we should have to fight for. But that’s what I find myself doing.

Recently I went to a Foreign Language Education conference. I got into a conversation with a professor there, who worked at a dual immersion school in California. She was also amazed at the absence of such a program here, especially because she’d like to enroll her bilingual son in one. I said I knew a load of parents (from www.AustinMamas.com and others) who are really interested in something like this. So she started a listserv to mobilize and gather like-minded Austinites. (Please sign up if you’re interested!)

So far we’ve got one good lead. A number of schools in central Austin are about to close. There are many reasons for that possible decision, but a lot of locals want to keep them open. One way we could save them is to install a dual language immersion class. If enough parents are interested in transfering their kids to such a school, we could kill two birds with one stone.

I’ve got a few years until Violet goes to school. Hopefully we’ll get something accomplished before then. Until then, maybe I should sign up for a Spanish class…