A Michigan State University study says attending a bilingual school may improve reading and math test scores of native English speakers. Research also shows bilingual programs benefit those learning English as a second language.
Despite the benefits the state education department says only 17% of all New Mexico students are in bilingual education and districts are doing what they can to get more students into the bilingual programs.
With a cabbie hat, full face shades and a Latin style fade hair cut bilingual Spanish rapper Guero Loco looks more like the kind of guy you’d see hanging out the window of a low rider or MCing a Reggaeton show.
But today he’s working the stage of the Deming High School auditorium to show kids the kinds of opportunities being bilingual can open up.
“The people with the money they get it they have got their kids in the emergent schools learning languages. We need to spread that message to the kids because I have had so many opportunities opened up to me not just as a music artist but also in the regular job market.” Guero Loco says.
To get the message out Guero Loco takes the fundamentals of Spanish; the alphabet, vowel pronunciation and verb conjugations and raps them over hip hop beats.
“It is hip with the hip hop! It is the youth they really love hip hop. I mean shoot 50 and 60 years olds love hip hop now. So just really taking a music that they like and putting the music and repetition to good use as far as teaching.” Guero Loco says.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEizV61IZc&feature=youtu.be
Sitting up in the back of the auditorium was the Deming Public Schools Director of Bilingual Education Michael Chavez he says he brought Guero Loco in to raise the profile of dual-language learning.
“We service different kids within the program. We service English learners that are of course Spanish speakers that are learning English and we are also trying to recruit more English speakers that want to learn Spanish in our dual language programs” Chavez says.
Chavez says the bilingual curriculum is not only identical to the English language curriculum but students work through it at the same pace.
A 2013 Michigan state University study in Texas shows that native English speakers enrolled in schools with bilingual education perform much better on math and reading tests than students schools without those programs.
According to the most recent New Mexico data native English speakers in the bilingual programs have achieved higher standardized test scores in many grades.
Chavez says the trend runs true throughout the Deming school district and is an even stronger trend among English language learners in the bilingual streams.
“There is a lot of people that believe in order to learn English you need to be in an all English environment and there is lots of research out there and we have data within our district that shows that English learners that are doing it through both languages; English and Spanish are actually out performing our kids that are not.” Chavez says.
Of the 5261 students in the Deming Public School more than 31% are enrolled in bilingual programs.
Deming High School sophomore Cristina Hernandez is one, she’s a native Spanish speaker she says there is a little bit of a cultural and language divide at Deming High School. She says kids in the bilingual stream and in the traditional English stream hardly interact and she says it doesn’t help that a lot of bilingual classes are off the main campus.
“I feel like it is two different schools. We are at the same school but it is like if we have two different schools.” Hernandez says.
Senior Jason Gomez is also a native Spanish speaker, he says relationships are a lot stronger within the bilingual program.
“Spanish talkers can teach or help English talkers speak Spanish and English students can teach Spanish students learn English.” Gonzalez says.
Both Gonzalez and Hernandez say their experience at Deming High School would be a lot better if more students were in the bilingual program or at least if speaking two languages was more celebrated at school.
Chavez says they have been progressively working towards that goal for the last six years. He says one of the reasons Guero Loco has so much impact is because students can relate to him and his experience. He speaks perfect Spanish and knows his way around Mexican slang but he is no native Spanish speaker.
“Guero Loco basically means the crazy white guy! The crazy gringo. Because my parents aren’t Latino, I don’t have any body in my family that is Latino” Guero Loco says.
His Real name; Steve Stiegelmeyer, born and raised in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Where he almost failed Spanish in high school.
“For a lot of the gringo kids, I used to be in their position. I used to be sitting in their seats wondering why am I taking this language? How is this ever going to help me with my life? It is probably not, why should I even pay attention? So my job is to be that link and say this is why.” Guero Loco says.
Chavez says bringing Guero Loco into the district is part of a coordinated campaign to recruit more students into the bilingual program and change student and parent attitudes. Chavez says for the first time this graduating year, Deming Public Schools diplomas will have bilingual seals for students proving proficiency in second languages. All New Mexico schools will use the seals starting in 2016.
Guero Loco made stops in Hobbes, Portales, Albuquerque, Deming and Las Cruces and is set to tour New Mexico public schools again at the beginning of the new school year.
