Published: November 10, 2008 09:02 am      

District has high hopes for dual language program

Cleburne ISD believes it’s headed in the right direction with Dual Language Enrichment Education curriculum of professors Leo and Richard Gomez.

The district will find out for sure with state-mandated TAKS tests in two years.

“[Cleburne] students who have had the Gomez model of dual language instruction for the entirety of their school careers have not yet reached the third-grade TAKS testing time,” said Gay Green, CISD executive director of bilingual and ESL services. “That will come in spring of 2010.”

And that will be an exciting time in CISD.

“I think we’ll be anticipating very good results,” Green said.

The Gomez & Gomez program is about more than TAKS testing. It’s about young Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students learning a second language while becoming increasingly proficient in their first language.

The Gomez brothers offered a two-hour overview Thursday night at a large gathering of Cleburne administrators, teachers and community members at the administration building. The program is also in use in the Alvarado, Burleson and Joshua school districts.

Among the pluses of the “enrichment education,” the brothers said, is that students learn academic skills such as math and science at grade level as they develop English- and Spanish-speaking skills.

Content comes first, the brothers emphasized. Language comes second. Thus, Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students learn academic subjects primarily in their first language while interacting with teachers and other students in the second language.

Readng-language arts is taught in the native language from Pre-K to first grade and in both languages in grades two through five. Math is taught in English in pre-K through fifth grade, science in Spanish in pre-K through fifth grade, and social studies in Spanish from pre-K through fifth grade.

The goal, by the end of fifth grade, is bilingual literacy.

The Gomez & Gomez curriculum uses two-way and one-way approaches.

Two-way, according to the curriculum, features “extensive exposure and use of the two languages through challenging, interactive settings ... students learn together in bilingual pairs-groups.”

Two-way requires a bilingual teacher and an equal number of Spanish-first and English-first students. Two-way is considered more effective than one-way, in which students from one language group learn in two languages.

The curriculum also uses a “language of the day” approach. Spanish is spoken Monday, Wednesday and Friday. English is spoken Tuesday and Thursday.

According to the curriculum, language of the day develops extensive vocabulary, particularly in the second language and validates both languages across the campus.

Cleburne ISD implemented bilingual education in 2003-04, Green said, and adopted the Gomez method with teacher training in the spring of 2006.

Since then, Green said, “We’ve been through a lot of changes elementary school-wise. In opening new schools, some of our schools that had dual language no longer have dual language. With the redrawing of attendance zones, we now have dual language at Adams, Cooke, Irving and Santa Fe elementaries.

“Adams and Cooke have two-way. Irving and Santa Fe have one-way.”

Teachers have been receptive, Green said.

“Our bilingual and English-speaking teachers in two-way have been excited. The [Gomez brothers] have written a transition plan for Cleburne to implement an additional grade each year.

“This year, we’re fully implemented in pre-K through second grade. By 2012, we’ll be fully implemented through grade five.”

Students are responding.

“The kids are excited about learning a new language,” Green said. “They’re excited about the new teaching strategies involved — a lot of hands-on activities and video streaming in both languages.”

The bottom line? According to research and statistics presented by the Gomez brothers, the program works.

“The data presented lets us know we’re on the right track,” Green said.