Very good Austin elementary school that teaches spanish to children (Round Rock: loan, elementary schools)

[love roses]

Boy mimimom, you couldn't have twisted my words any worse I don't think. Of course I'm aware that foreign language is a requirement in High School. I'm not THAT old. But when I was in school, we were offered Spanish, German, French, Russian, and Latin as electives. We were not FORCED and actually, in the Late 80's, where I was in school noone failed if they didn't want to take a language class. But even as a graduation requirement, multiple languages should be offered. And I couldn't agree more with what Ted says. I don't believe that Spanish speaking kids should have it easier than anyone else by making everyone else learn their language so they don't have to learn English. I think that is cheating them and keeping them in the "slave" class that it seems big business wants them to be in.

[xsloane]

The way this thread has gone makes me so upset I can't even think straight enough to write something coherent without sounding equally as bad as some of the posts here. All I want to say is: mimimom3x I am with you 110%.

[mimimomx3]

Well...let's keep this local, shall we? My points are that:

1)English is the official language of the US
2)Many immigrants who come to Austin, legal and illegal, speak Spanish
3)Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language world wide
4)Spanish is not only spoken by illegal immigrants and 'bullies' any more than English is only spoken by hillbilles
5)Learning more than one language is beneficial to everyone, and we should all speak more than one language, including English
6)In Austin, children are offered the opportunity to learn a variety of languages in high school
7)In Austin, some parents find it beneficial for their elementary aged children to learn a language other than English. Most of those programs are offered in private schools or international bacalaureate schools.
I'm done.
Mimi

[love roses]

I'll say this and then I'm done. To each his own since this is more than anything an opinion topic, and NOONE (and I mean NOONE) is superior to anyone when it comes to that opinion. And I do know another language...Spanish (surprise) only I'm better at reading it than conversing to a major degree in it. Believe it or not, if you will, my daughter can also say simple phrases in Spanish already, so PLEASE...Noone tag me as a rascist since that's the farthest thing from what I am.

[TedH71]

I actually know some Spanish words myself because I picked some words here and there working besides various legal and illegal peoples who spoke Spanish. They know they have to learn English. Those are the motivated ones. I'm not sure if any of you have been to South Texas where Spanish is basically the primary language spoken there..almost everyone speaks Spanish including the ranchers. That situation is what I'm talking about. Nobody has the motivation to learn English because everyone speaks Spanish there. The more motivated peoples move up north and pick up English the best they can. The less motivated ones stay put. I've seen it with my own eyes and have friends whose families speak both English and Spanish. The ones that knew both languages had more money simply because they were able to establish businesses that conducted business between Mexico and the US. Land is extremely cheap there because nobody except the Spanish speakers want it.

Now that's the last I'll speak on the subject because it's individual opinion and if you don't already live it or seen it, then you can't really see it from their point of view. In Austin, the illegals who only speak Spanish are robbed of their money on a frequent basis because they don't trust banks and the persons robbing them know this and know they won't tell the police because they're illegals and only speak Spanish. Austin cops have had to resort to various methods to let them know it's ok to report thefts. Banks have had to deal with this by starting to accept Mexico licenses or whatnot. That's what speaking 100% Spanish and 0% English can lead to in some situations.

[Dave F.]

Getting back on topic, Austin seems to be sorely lacking in elementary immersion schools. I've done a fairly exhaustive search trying to find something that compares to our spanish immersion school (one of a few) here in San Diego. Houston and San Antonio have a couple each and if memory serves so does the DFW area. Do a google search on the subject and you'll find plenty in Oregon, Washington, California, tons in Minnesota and even in Kentucky and Missouri. The closest I could come up with in Austin area was the already mentioned Tobias Elementary in Kyle. The curriculum sounds similar to what we're doing now. Pretty much an immersion program with more english instruction with each grade progression. Calling the TEA was not much help in finding info. Calling some of the ISD's and whomever else we called didn't net much either. It's really weird. What little info there is has almost been this secretive egg hunt/wild goose chase kind of thing. The phone gets transferred to this person, then that person, then back to the original. I think what it simply boils down to is Austin and surrounding area is behind the curve on immersion programs. We were told there were a couple schools slated for spanish immersion in the future. Another one in the Hays ISD if I remember right. The problem with the new upstarts is they start the program out with Kinder only. Then the following year, the Kinder's are in 1st so you have spanish instruction for Kinder and 1st. Year after that it's Kinder, 1st and 2nd and so on. So, if you're in that district with one of the upstarts and you have a 2nd grader but, they're only up to 1st grade, you're back to square one. You're back to private school or a school like Tobias that's been around a while. I think over the next few years there'll be more and more Austin area ISD's starting immersion programs and playing a bit of catch up. Those with very young kids will benefit and those with kids beyond Kinder will have to find an alternative. Unless of course this issue is brought up to School Boards and people voice, "Hey, my 1st grader wants to learn Spanish too and a couple hours a week isn't cutting it."

[atlanta hope]

The I.B. schools teach language -- Anderson Mill and Spicewood Elementaries in the Round Rock school district.

Austin ISD is sorely lacking. Who do we need to pester to change that?

[xsloane]

Originally Posted by atlanta hope

The I.B. schools teach language -- Anderson Mill and Spicewood Elementaries in the Round Rock school district.

Austin ISD is sorely lacking. Who do we need to pester to change that?

Unfortunately neither school accepts transfers unless you are already participating in the IB program. There are also several schools that teach Vietnamese in the RRISD, I don't quite see the logic for that though. In any case, I had been in e-mail contact with Rosa Villareal, the RRISD "Coordinator, BIL/ ESL/ PRE-K" but the information she has provided is nothing that is not already posted in their site as well. Maybe if many people start questioning the system, we will end up making a wave big enough to bring the needed change. Her e-mail is: Rosa_Villarreal@roundrockisd.org. Drop here a line, let her know that you want the immersion program to be available in the district.

[love roses]

There are Vietnamese moving here too, so it's just as valid to have that, as to have Spanish.

[Jaipur]

My nice has Spanish class and she is in AISD, grade 4.