spanglish explosion

WASILLA — Wendy Bowen begins the morning in her classroom at Larson Elementary School in Wasilla like any other school day. She greets her kindergarten and first-grade students with a smile and a “Buenos dĂ-as.” It’s a reminder to her young and eager learners that from then on until the lunch bell, they will hear, learn and speak nothing but Spanish.

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Bowen’s classroom at Larson is part of a growing interest in bilingual education with families in the Mat-Su Valley. For the past seven years, Larson has exploded with its Spanish Immersion program, where more than 110 kindergarten to fifth-grade students learn studies in both Spanish and English.

“Larson’s intention was to grow the program within the school,” Bowen said. “But eventually we kind of out grew the building.”

When Larson opened in 2001, parents knew they wanted to start an immersion program of some sort, settling on Spanish as the most practical language for their kids to use in the future.

Certified to teach in both languages, Bowen was passionate about jumping on board as a Spanish/English instructor. She has been leading the Spanish Immersion program for seven years.

“It helps the children gain an understanding of a different culture as well as use the language in everyday situations,” she said.

In a typical language immersion school, the student doesn’t study only in the formal sense — he or she lives the language. Classes are taught entirely in Spanish, speaking in another language at any time is discouraged, and the student lives in Spanish-speaking environment.

Studies by the Association for Childhood Education found that students enrolled in an early immersion program learn the language being taught at an almost-native proficiency by age 11. The study also found that children who are adequately exposed to two languages at an early age experience noticeable gains: They are more flexible and creative, and reach high levels of cognitive development at an earlier age than their monolingual peers .

During the first year, Bowen was the only one teaching both kindergarten and first grade within the Spanish Immersion setting. By 2002, a second-grade class was added. Soon, the program expanded as the children grew with the program.

Bowen’s students spend half of the day speaking Spanish in normal studies, the second half studies are repeated in English.

“The kids know that is the expectation,” Bowen said. “They are ready to hear and respond to Spanish. They do a very good job at it. High expectations makes for success in this program.”

There are four Spanish Immersion instructors at Larson to accommodate the growing student body. As the classrooms and interest grew, by 2007 it was clear the Spanish Immersion program needed its own space.

Robert Kalander, chairman of the governing board of the Academic Policy Committee (APC), is a parent of a student in the Spanish Immersion program at Larson Elementary School. His daughter, Kiani, is a first-grade student in Bowen’s class.

“We right away noticed she had an interest in the language,” Kalander said. “We’d be shopping or at the movies, and she would all of the sudden switch to Spanish. She would start with simple words, like ‘bread’ and ‘book,’ and then it eventually turned into phrases. She now has confidence speaking Spanish, like carrying on a conversation with someone in a Spanish restaurant. She wants to learn more and more. It has made school fun for her.”

Kalander soon became interested in helping the program flourish and headed the committee to oversee the development of a new school in the Mat-Su Borough School District, the Frontieras Spanish Immersion Charter School (FSICS).

“I wanted to be an involved parent,” Kalander said. “When the decision was made about the charter school, I got involved because I saw the need for growth. It was a necessary step.”

Kalander said Larson’s facility can no longer house the growing program, but that relocating wasn’t an easy option to make.

“It was difficult decision,” he said. “Kiani really enjoys being a part of Larson. But, the school realized that it needed to happen as well. They have shown to be very helpful in making the transition.”

To date, there are 150 K-6 students either signed up or on a waiting list for the new FSICS scheduled to open in the Mat-Su Valley by August.

Kalander and the other board members have just obtained local and state school board approval, working diligently with the Borough on finding a location for the new school.

“This will be a public school, so it has to go through a public process. We can’t choose,” Kalander said.

The Request For Proposal (RFP) process, is a lengthy one, with Kalander and the other board members meeting with Borough members to look over currently built options or begin looking at possible new building sites.

The Borough and APC will meet to review these proposals in early February with a common interest in finding the best location to accommodate Larson’s students.

“Now it’s the wait-and-see game,” Kalander said.

Financially, no costs have been disclosed as to how much will be needed to start up FSICS. State and federal grants have been applied for and money allocated for the project, but not released.

Kalander, Bowen and the board are confident they will know where the new school will be by May at the latest.

“There are facilities out there that would meet our needs, some better than others,” Kalander said. “We may have to move after the first year or two, or we could be stable for 10 to 15 years. It’s hard to tell.”

For now, Bowen continues to teach her bilingual students in a packed classroom. She said that she understands not everyone in the Valley is on board with the new school, that there are people who believe the Spanish Immersion program is too intense for children in their first years of school.

“There are those that don’t see a reasoning for us offering a language to these grade levels,” Bowen said. “They think it should be English only. A good thing to realize is that it is always important to learn more than one language, and what a great opportunity it is for these kids to do it now.”

Bowen herself said she didn’t have the opportunity to pick up Spanish while still carrying a lunch box. She had to wait until middle school.

“I was just thrilled when this was opened up to me,” she said. “It’s a calling for me to reach out to little children.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-2269.