Language Immersion Schooling Draws Praise, Sparks Fears

Both Hamlin Street School in West Hills and Limerick Avenue School in Canoga Park offer language immersion programs in Spanish and English, but for several reasons, according to the program adviser, Anglo parents are keeping their kids away in droves.

“I think it’s because they panic when their children enter first grade and learn to read in Spanish before English,” says Frances Rodriguez, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Language Academy head for the Valley, “and because it is a pilot program, so there is uncertainty about how well their youngsters will be preparing for high school and college.” Rodriguez says she thinks the parents’ fears are understandable, but groundless, adding that the program is based on a successful French-English model that has been in place in Quebec for many years.

The program is set up so that during kindergarten and first grade the instruction is taught 90% in Spanish and 10% in English, with the percentages leveling off to 50-50 by the fifth grade.

Since English-speaking students struggle more during the earlier grades in the program, it is not unusual for the Spanish-speaking youngsters to help, Rodriguez says, and the fallout from that is an interesting program plus.

“We hoped busing would create better understanding (among) students of diverse backgrounds, but it didn’t really. This program succeeds in doing that,” she says.

She adds that she thinks the advantages for Spanish-speaking students are obvious. They learn to read in the language they grew up with, and then gradually work into English.

But Rodriguez believes that the advantages to English-speaking youngsters may be more subtle, but no less compelling, and that being bilingual will reap benefits for these students throughout their lives.

Nonetheless, Rodriguez is sensitive to the anxieties that Anglo parents have about their children’s progress. She says she realizes that they think their children will lag behind other Anglo children headed for college, but adds that the evidence suggests this is not true.

Rodriguez says she thinks all bilingual students will be better off, educationally, by the fifth grade, and either on a par or academically superior to those who have not had the advantage of bilingual education.

Barbara and Rush White of West Hills are two parents who agree wholeheartedly. They put their son, Jared, into the program the first year it was offered at Hamlin during the 1992-93 school year when he was in kindergarten.

“Even though it was a pilot program, we thought the opportunity was too good to pass up, and after a couple of weeks of apprehension about the language barrier, Jared--who is going into his third year in the program--enthusiastically agreed,” Barbara White says.

White says an experience she had in high school made her open to the idea.

“I went to Mexico with the Taxco-Canoga Park sister city program when I was at Canoga Park High School and forged friendships there I have kept ever since. When I went to UCLA I took Spanish and encouraged my husband, whom I met there, to take it. My facility with the language got me employment with Mexicana Airlines, which I enjoyed for 16 years,” she says.

White adds that she considers this program to be the best possible preparation for her son, who will be working in the 21st Century when being bilingual may be a business necessity, not just a plus.

She also says that her son learning to respect both cultures and languages makes the program even more desirable.

It’s a sentiment Rodriguez shares.

Rodriguez says that there is room for more children in both the Hamlin and Limerick programs and that interested parents may contact her through the Los Angeles Unified School District, or call one of the schools after Sept. 1. The schools have open enrollment, so students do not have to live in either of the schools’ boundaries to attend.

Woodland Hills Woman At Home All Over Map

Jackie Sant-Myerhoff’s job calls for a number of diverse qualities.

She is in charge of troop movements, hiring, lodging, diplomacy, matchmaking, Mother Superior-ing and coping with the unexpected. She also needs to speak a little of almost every language on earth.

Sant-Myerhoff is the area administrator of the Cultural Homestay International organization, headquartered in Northern California, and the Woodland Hills resident only has to look at a map to be reminded of groups she has either coming or going all over the place.

She administrates five programs for the northern section of Southern California, including those that send local high school students to foreign countries for a couple of weeks, months or a school year, and other programs that bring foreign students here.

One of the newest programs has local students visiting Russia this summer, and a group of Russians have come here.

Another program brings young college students from European countries, particularly France, to work with local businesses. “It’s part of their curriculum in business school, and necessary to graduation, Sant-Myerhoff says.

She says she started out with the organization in the early ‘80s, when she was host for a visiting student, but has since advanced to her present, paid post.

“There are so many exciting things happening in the world today, and being involved in cultural exchanges is one way that you can really feel a part of that,” she says.

She adds that there is one benefit of her job that money just couldn’t buy.

“Almost anywhere on earth I go now, I know families who have asked me to share their home,” she says. “It makes traveling so much more personal and enjoyable, to see a country the way the people there do.”

Overheard:

“My wife says the only reason she stays with me is that she considers turning me into a human being is a lifelong work-in-progress. I think she’s worried about getting custody of the Range Rover.”

Man to his guests at a Studio City party.