Reply to 1st–5th at LAMB

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "1st–5th at LAMB"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]As a former teacher at LAMB, one of my biggest concerns was the effectiveness of the Spanish program.

It was surprising to me how many students spent Pre-K3, Pre-K4, and Kindergarten learning almost entirely in Spanish and still could not carry even a basic conversation in the language. By first grade, students are expected to read and write, and for children who are already struggling academically in English, having to complete half of their schoolwork in a language they do not fully understand can make things even more difficult.

What concerned me most was that these struggles often went unnoticed. Since evaluations and support services, including IEP assessments, focus primarily on English, students' difficulties in Spanish are not always identified or addressed. I often saw students copying down complex Spanish vocabulary, such as terms related to the anatomy of a flower, without understanding what the words meant. In many cases, they were simply copying from the board into their notebooks. Because classrooms were expected to remain quiet, they often had few opportunities to hear the words used naturally, ask questions, or practice speaking the language.

If you are considering the school, I would encourage you not to take my word for it. Find a fluent Spanish speaker you trust and ask them to have a conversation with the average LAMB student who is not from a Spanish-speaking household and does not receive Spanish instruction outside of school. You may be surprised by how limited many students' conversational skills are after several years in an immersion program.

To be fair, there are many things LAMB does well, and there are aspects of the school that I genuinely appreciate. However, based on my experience as a teacher there, I would not consider the Spanish program to be one of the school's strongest areas.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics