CALGARY- Calgary school boards plan to expand their Spanish bilingual programs, thanks to its grande success.
The program started in 2001 at Collingwood Elementary, and one of its first students is now about to graduate from the program at William Aberhart High School.
“I can relate to many more people and even just the basics,” says Natalya Rambold. “Just hearing other languages on the street and being able to understand them and being able to understand Spanish lyrics in songs…I think it’s a very unique experience.”
She adds that being in an immersion program was not overly challenging.
“It was challenging, but I don’t think it impacted the way that I learned mathematics at all. I think that I learned math to the best of my ability, regardless of the fact it was in a second language.”
The program started with just 125 students in Grades 1 and 2, and has since grown to nearly 3,000 students in nine schools around the city.
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Provincial achievement tests show those in Spanish are achieving either the same scores or higher than monolingual peers. Experts attribute that to the fact that children’s brains need to work harder to learn in a second language.
“They are constantly problem solving…and research has verified that their skills at problem solving are much higher,” says assistant principal Linda Vargas. “It’s because of the high cognitive thinking they are doing daily, that they are improving their intellectual levels.”
Administrators say the increase in ESL instruction comes from parents in oil and gas who travel to Latin American countries, and those who simply want their children to have an extra skill.
“It’s been a great experience, because she knows how to speak two languages,” says Natalya’s father, Patrick Rambold. “I had to learn my second language in my thirties, and it was a horrible process.
“She got it for free!”
The public Spanish program plans to expand this fall, while the Catholic board will expand it into two more high schools in 2015.
-With files from Carolyn Kury de Castillo
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