This week we have been learning about animals and their homes. We have had so much fun pretending to be animals and learning about where each one lives. The kids have been particularly interested in the real bird’s nest and eggs. We passed them around the circle and each child got to hold them. Then we made bird houses out of milk cartons and put bird seed in them. Each child got to take their bird house home.
We read some stories together about elephants, owls and of course, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” and “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?” The kids all love the repetitiveness of these books because they can help to read them. We are all becoming really good friends. The kids are looking out for one another and helping each other. They play together so well during free time and outside time. It is really sweet! The last thing we did this week was making our own bird’s nests out of food items. We used peanut butter as the “mud”, pretzels and coconut as the “twigs” and raisins as the “eggs”. What a fun activity! The kids love these types of hands-on lessons.
Maestra Jessica

Fifty years ago, bilingualism was strongly discouraged.  Existing literature contained negative connotations because scholars described bilingualism from a monolinguistic perspective.  Bilinguals were viewed as a deviation from the norm, and in certain regions, bilingual children were punished if they were caught speaking minoritized languages at school (Romaine, 1989). 

In a revolutionary study in the early sixties, Peal and Lambert introduced an idea that would help to change the general attitude toward bilingualism.  They “drew attention to the fact that sampling methods had been lacking in accuracy and had created biases against bilingual children” (Döpke, 1992, pg. 4).  They also maintained that bilinguals achieve greater intellectual capabilities.  This claim led to additional research, and soon linguists were asserting that it is just as easy to learn two languages as it is to learn one, (Penfield & Roberts, 1959), and that bilinguals have an increased capability for divergent thinking and greater metalinguistic awareness.  

This pendulum swing inspired further study.  Continuing research led to the creation of a variety of different approaches to bilingual education. Over the past twenty years, many methods have been developed, and there have been very few reports of any negative repercussions due to bilingualism (Döpke, 1992).  In fact, a well-established history of research maintains that multilingualism provides many advantages.  Speaking more than one language has been shown to generate cognitive, academic, social, and cultural benefits (Garcia, 1985; Hakuta & Diaz, 1985; Krashen, 1996; McQuillan & Tse, 1995; Peal & Lambert, 1962). Bilingualism facilitates third language acquisition (Sanz, 2000), and developing skills in multiple languages provides personal gains and eventually leads to the betterment of society as a whole (Cho, 2000).

Bilingual immersion is a crucial component of the Unión curriculum and there are several advantages to this type of language exposure.  Research shows that bilingual immersion programs:

• Promote cross-cultural understanding
• Preserve a native language while helping students acquire a second language
• Enhance divergent thinking and metalinguistic awareness
• Increase academic achievement in all areas

(Genesee, Paradis, & Crago, 2004)

 It is our hope that we can help children achieve the benefits of bilingualism through the Unión two-way immersion program.

Estamos muy contentas ya que terminamos nuestra semana numero 6 del ciclo escolar. Esta semana estuvimos muy ocupados ensayando canciones en Ingles y Espanol. Ya que tuvimos una visita al Centro para personas mayores y los ninos tuvieron el privilegio de cantar para ellos. Es muy bonito ver como los ninos ponen lo mejor de si para cada una de las actividades, hicieron tarjetas con mucho amor y dedicacion para los abuelitos y pasaron una manana muy divertidad con ellos.
Estuvieron muy emocionados cuando les dimos la noticia que tomariamos el autobus para la visita a los abuelitos, ya que para varios era la primera vez viajar el autobus, una esperiencia muy divertidad para todos.
En el salon de clases ya todos son amigos y cada vez que algun nino falta siempre se escucha la pequena vocecita que dice “no vino______” y todos empiezan a preguntar por esa personita que falto ese dia.
Estan poniendo mas atencion al momento de escuchar historia en otro lenguaje y hasta participan con algunas palabras.
Es muy agradable ver como poco se esta aprendiendo otro idioma.