Aliyya Swaby Photo
Ingrid Cuevas-Gregory wants students to leave her class not just speaking English but also “looking adults in the eye.”
As the third-grade “bridge” teacher at Clinton Avenue Elementary, Cuevas has to guide the transition between bilingual and “mainstream” education, helping students become proficient not only in a language but also in a new set of cultural norms.
“They have to know that here, [eye contact] is a sign of respect,” perhaps unlike in their home countries, Cuevas said. She does not want them to have difficulty in fourth grade, with a teacher who may not understand that cultural difference.
Cuevas is dealing with a challenge faced by teachers in schools with significant Latino populations: What happens when students may no longer take conventional bilingual classes under state law — but may not be fully ready for immersion in mainstream classes? State law limits students to 30 months in bilingual classes.
Her third-grade bridge classroom is one of three options at Clinton Avenue for students learning English as a second language, as well as the “dual language” program and state-mandated bilingual program. The bridge class will be phased out in two years, replaced by the dual language class, which is currently in its second year of funding.
This year, one-third of the bridge class’s students is new to the country. Most are from Puerto Rico or Mexico, Cuevas said.
The challenge is preparing these students for the state tests, which begin in third grade, she said. Cuevas was born in New York, but went to elementary school in Puerto Rico for four years, before returning to the mainland United States.
“When I got to Puerto Rico, I had to learn Spanish, because I only knew English. When I came back [to New York], I had to learn English again,” she said.
This experience helps her help her students — she can determine whether a student is having trouble with an entire concept or just a few words used to explain it.
After moving with her mother to New Haven from Puerto Rico last May, Geryanne Valencia entered Clinton Avenue as a second grader in the bilingual classroom. At the end of second grade, she still needed help with her English.
According to state law, “second-language learners” must move into classrooms taught fully in English after 30 months, or about three school years, in bilingual classrooms. Students who enter Clinton Avenue in kindergarten may stay in bilingual classrooms just through the second grade.
Since no bilingual classrooms are available for third-graders, Geryanne entered Ms. Cuevas’s bridge class this past September.
Her mother Mariangely Valencia said her daughter has improved tremendously in both programs. But she worries that Geryanne will have nowhere to go next year.
Students who continue to need help after third grade are still placed in English-only classrooms. But because Geryanne has only received a third of her state-allocated hours in a bilingual classroom, she will receive extra support in fourth grade, said Clinton Principal Ana Rodriguez.
An English-language-learner (ELL) support specialist will give her 10 hours of help weekly, either working with her in the classroom or taking her out for special instruction, Rodriguez said. “it depends on the student.”
Rodriguez is a certified bilingual teacher, and said often students take no more than six months to develop strong English communication skills, although they may need extra help with reading comprehension. Students who lag behind are sometimes those who have fewer resources to learn English outside of the classroom, she said, including lack of access to computers or neighborhood libraries.
“It’s tough because if students don’t get exposed to activities in the neighborhood … they will take longer to build their English capacity,” she said.
Every student learning English as a second language is tested annually, by federal mandate, to determine whether he or she meets the criteria to enter mainstream classrooms, said Pedro Mendia-Landa, the district’s ELL supervisor. John Martinez and Truman Schools also have bridge programs, he said.
Geryanne will be tested in January, June and then again when starting fourth grade in September, so the school can develop a unique program to improve her oral, math and reading skills, Rodriguez said.
For now, she is improving little by little in Cuevas’s classroom. Last Wednesday morning, Cuevas asked her students to be “tour guides” leading others in discussion on the book “Practice Makes Perfect.” Twenty-six students broke up into four circles.
Kelly Carbajal, who started at Clinton in kindergarten, helped the two students in the group who were having trouble getting their thoughts out in English. Another student Ricardo Teniza told Geryanne that she could also use Spanish to substitute for English words she didn’t know.
New students “have extra support from their peers,” Cuevas said, especially those who went through the same process of language learning not too long ago. Cuevas wants her students to know that their struggle does not make them “lesser.”
“I say, ‘You’re very bright because you’re learning two different languages and two different cultures,’” she said.
At the end of the lesson, Kelly and Ricardo were rewarded with tickets, meaning they could compete for a prize at the end of the week. But they felt someone was missing a prize.
“Geryanne was trying to speak English,” Kelly piped up.
“She was trying a lot. Let’s give her a ticket!” Ricardo said.
Cuevas made sure Geryanne’s name went into the raffle, too.
Previous coverage of Clinton Avenue School:
• Clinton Avenue Gets Fluent
