By Marinee Zavala
The certification of 40 San Diego and Baja California teachers aims to help American students better understand the language of their new country when they move to Mexico, and Mexican students to do the same when they move to the U.S.
An agreement between the Baja California State Education Board’s Binational Migrant Education Program (PROBEM, for its initials in Spanish) and the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) to validate a Binational Teacher Certification Pilot Project based on the Guided Language Acquisition and Design (GLAD) system will provide teachers with new skills and practical approaches for teaching foreign students. Subjects such as Math, History, and Science will now be easier to learn, even while in another country.
The project, fostered by the Institute for Mexican Citizens Living Abroad (IME, for its initials in Spanish), is already pairing 20 Baja California and 20 California teachers in a virtual space wherein they can share experiences using GLAD techniques, and learn from each other as to teaching approaches used by teachers in the student’s country of origin.
According to bilingual education studies in the U.S., a second-language learner needs 5-7 years on average to become fully proficient in the new language. There are 1.4 million non-English-speaking students enrolled in California schools, and 55,000 children with foreign birth certificates enrolled in Baja California schools. In addition to having to adapt to a new education system in their new country, these children also face the challenge of not speaking the language. Jean Corea, Executive Director of the California Association for Bilingual Education, said they anticipate that this pilot project will benefit over 5,000 students this school year alone.
SIZING THE ISSUE
The California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) believes that this is a serious issue that needs addressing, given the large number of students struggling to adapt to their new schools due to not speaking the language well enough. In California, 3-25% of enrolled students are still in the process of learning English. Additionally, there are more than 25,000 U.S.-born students living and studying in Baja California, Mexico, and 93-94% of Spanish speakers in the U.S. come from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and South America.
Another benefit is the interaction between teachers, states the Baja California School Board. Their interaction will allow teachers to show each other the learning context in their own country, learn different teaching approaches based on language association theories, help each other provide their students the best education possible, and enable students to better integrate into their classrooms and thus keep them from falling behind in their studies.
PROGRAM PHASES
Phase One of the Pilot Project was inaugurated on July 20 th , and started just over a week ago on Thursday, July 21 st . in Phase One, teachers attended two days of intensive trainings where they learned some of the key techniques, and exchanged approaches with other teachers in the virtual space where they can share pictures, ask questions, and propose ideas. The next step will continue in September, when the 40 participating teachers will get certified in the GLAD Program, after the results of Phase One are analyzed and the steps for the next phase are finalized based on the results. Phase 2 will take place on September 19 th – 23 rd , when teachers will learn to prepare grade-level appropriate lessons and observe actual classes at a Tijuana elementary school. Phase 3 , scheduled for October and November, will do the same now in California, with teachers from both countries observing and developing in a California classroom. The Baja California Binational Migrant Education Program State Coordinator feels that while they still do not know the full impact the pilot project will have, she is confident that it will help the millions of students currently struggling to integrate into their new country’s education systems. They hope that they can demonstrate the project’s success and then expand it to other parts of Mexico and the U.S.
The results of the Project GLAD Binational Teacher Education Pilot Project will be presented at the 2017 CABE National Conference in Anaheim, California.