Very good Austin elementary school that teaches spanish to children (Houston: school district, live)

[traceyr13]

Anderson Mill elementary school in RRISD is also an IB school with Spanish.

[relocate2boys]

I think it is great that you want your child to learn another language. I would look at Leander ISD Deer Creek - we have spanish for elementary. Specifically 1st grade teacher Mrs. O teaches the kids spanish and sign language in addition to the regular english.
The internationql school does sound great. I also looked into it but it is sooo expensive. Other than those 2 the IB schools would be worth looking into.

[TedH71]

I think the main reason it's not taught in most of Austin's schools is because it's looked down on a language of illegal immigrants which is for the most part true for Austin. I've met so many illegals in Austin it's a joke to me if I can meet some that aren't. To be honest, I've also met many that speak Spanish AND English. I'm deaf myself so I speak American Sign Language. My son is learning ASL and I honestly do not want him to learn Spanish because he's not around Spanish speaking people often enough and I feel that our schools force languages on kids. At least, they do in Wichita, KS where I live presently. I used to live in Austin for the last 20 years. My recommendation to Spanish speakers..if you want to succeed in America, learn to speak Spanish AND English. I wonder why many people do not want to learn a new language even if it means they will be more successful in life if they do learn?

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by TedH71

I think the main reason it's not taught in most of Austin's schools is because it's looked down on a language of illegal immigrants which is for the most part true for Austin. I've met so many illegals in Austin it's a joke to me if I can meet some that aren't. To be honest, I've also met many that speak Spanish AND English. I'm deaf myself so I speak American Sign Language. My son is learning ASL and I honestly do not want him to learn Spanish because he's not around Spanish speaking people often enough and I feel that our schools force languages on kids. At least, they do in Wichita, KS where I live presently. I used to live in Austin for the last 20 years. My recommendation to Spanish speakers..if you want to succeed in America, learn to speak Spanish AND English. I wonder why many people do not want to learn a new language even if it means they will be more successful in life if they do learn?

You really don't seem to get out much if the only people you know who speak Spanish are illegal immigrants. There are many educated and interesting people from all over Latin America in many professions right here in Austin who do speak both English and Spanish. There is wonderful literature (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, etc.) who write in Spanish and are recognized globally as respected authors. Speaking another language, whether it be Spanish, French, English or American Sign Language opens your eyes to other people in the world. One of the most interesting things to do is watch CNN in Spanish, or listen to Radio Quebec to hear different viewpoints. It's a shame that anyone has such a narrow minded, parochial view of the world. I'm thrilled that my kids here in Austin are in a school where Spanish (and Latin) are taught.

[TedH71]

Oh, I do get out often. Main problem is where I live...most people who speak Spanish are usually illegals which is the point I wanted to make. I do know that there are some people who aren't from Mexico who speak Spanish and English. My main problem with the illegals is that if they find our lifestyle that attractive...and they want to move up the corporate ladder or whatever...then they need to learn English. For example: South Texas. A lot of people speak only Spanish and have no reason to learn English even though it's supposed to be spoken in all parts of America simply because people have one sign with both English and Spanish. Also speaking JUST Spanish opens doors to abuse and people taking advantage of them. I've heard of that happening more than once. Let me give a good example. Michael Dell...he owns that big company and, yes, I've worked in his manufacturing factory that he has. Illegals do trash clean ups and cook the food in the small restaurant that he has all over the buildings that he owns. They're paid $7 an hour no matter how much OT they make..they still get $7 an hour..how do I know that? I've talked to a co-worker who can speak both Spanish AND English and moved to Austin from South Texas (he citied lack of opporunities and extremely low wages in South Texas for his main reason for moving to Austin) who then translated between me and several illegals. The reason Dell has not been busted is because an independent company hires those illegals and Mr. Dell knows about how much they're paid but would rather save big $$$ by keeping it at $7 an hour. Not kidding. If he gets busted, it's the hiring company that is busted not him. He can always pretend that he didn't know what was going on but he does because he pays their salaries. Mr. Dell is a greedy guy.

Some of the illegals were actively learning English the best they could on the job because they knew that they would have MORE opporunties to get better paying jobs. I have no problem with Spanish or Hispanic people since I have many friends who are either one or the other but they all usually know English more than they know Spanish. I know of a few that speak both languages. Just that I do not like it when people refuse to learn a new language because they feel like they don't need to learn or don't want to simply because they're insecure. I can understand that but they have got to adapt.

What I do not like is schools cramming it down the kids' throats when they haven't even asked the parents permission to teach the kids' the language.

[love roses]

I agree. I don't think it should be forced. Offered as a choice, yes, but made to take it..No. It's also starting to sound a little too trendy to me about how much people extole the virtues of the Spanish Culture. Not that anythings wrong with the Spanish/Hispanic Culture, but it's starting to get a little bit overblown to me. And if they offer language at a young age in school, I definitely also think more than Spanish should be offered. It would be no less of a benefit for her to learn Chinese, French, Russian, Arabic, Italian, etc...I mean, we do business in those countries as well don't we.

[TedH71]

Also include languages that are used here like American Sign Language yes, there are millions of people that use it and in Austin it is a useful language to know because if you are working at a service job such as a coffee shop, you can use ASL and not hold up the line waiting for some deaf person to waste time writing down what he/she wants you to make for him/her.

[love roses]

When I worked in a Salon it would have come in handy quite a few more times than I had thought. I had quite a few hearing impaired clients and it certainly would have made life a lot easier for us

[mimimomx3]

There is a foreign language requirement in Texas high schools, Chinese, French, ASL, even Spanish is offered. Do you consider this 'having Spanish rammed down out throats'?
I think my kids feel pretty annoyed at having to learn Algebra 2....no one asked my permission to teach it!

[TedH71]

Offering Spanish is vastly different than having them be REQUIRED to take the classes. Here in Wichita, they require elementary school kids to take Spanish without parents' knowledge. My friend only found out (he's deaf himself) AFTER he caught his kid speaking Spanish with this child from a Spanish speaking family that are illegals and are always getting into trouble. He asked him where he had learned Spanish and his son said at school. He showed up at school the next day and bawled the teacher out. Turns out that the teacher was teaching the kids Spanish because there were so many kids Spanish speaking she thought it was easier on the Spanish kids if the other kids spoke Spanish as well. NOT SO! It's faster if a child from another country learns both languages at a young age. Sooner or later, that Spanish child HAS to learn English eventually. Better for the child to learn it more early than later. Turns out that school district teaches Spanish on the low unless parents speak out then they will take that child out of the Spanish classes. I will not allow my son to learn Spanish unless he wants to learn it. The Catholic school here recently kicked out a group of Spanish speaking kids from the school because they were using Spanish to taunt and pick on the other kids and being bullies. The school's policy was no bullying at all allowed. The Spanish speaking parents made it sound like that their kids were kicked out for speaking Spanish when it was mainly because they were bullying the other kids while speaking Spanish. If I remember correctly, Austin has a high percentage of kids speaking Spanish that do not learn English at all because they're having problems in the majority Spanish speaking schools. Do you truly want your Spanish speaking kid not to be able to learn English? That child will be limited to what he/she can do career wise later in life if that child doesn't learn how to read English or speak it.

Once again, I have nothing against Spanish. What I have problems with is the fact that the parents do not feel the need to learn English or learn to intergrate or whatever the spelling of that word..into American culture. They can still keep their culture but just learn to appreciate American culture.