Dueling with the Dual

Approximately six years ago, my school district decided to become a "dual language district."  The initial plan was that all students would be instructed in both English and Spanish.  We did have parents who insisted their children only be instructed in English, so the dual language model in our school is not "pure" - we do have classes in each grade level that are taught solely in English.

However, as music teachers know, we teach ALL the students in the school - not just the English, not just the Spanish/English dual language classes (and all other languages that may arrive in our classes).  How does this affect our classrooms?  Many become even more concerned because we are music classes in the United States and our textbooks and other materials are generally in English.

First, if this becomes a reality where you teach, I will advise you - DO NOT PANIC!  This advice is especially for those native English speaking music specialists who do not speak Spanish.  I have lived along the Texas/Mexico border for nearly twenty years now.  I can assure you that this Pennsylvania native knew very little of the Spanish language prior to making the 2,000 mile journey to live here.  Through various programs, interactions with friends and colleagues, and sometimes just plain osmosis, I have picked up enough Spanish to hold a conversation, conference with parents, and generally speak with minimal "accent" and can do so without much effort.  I am a far cry from a "native speaker" but I can hold my own.  Using online resources that translate English to Spanish have also helped a great deal. 

If such a situation comes your way, find a language learning program you like and be diligent about learning the language.  Do not rush.  Learning Spanish, for me, has been a long and on-going process.  Being a musician gives me an advantage as my "ear" is much more analytical and can more readily reproduce sounds I hear.  Knowing a different second language was also helpful.  After all, I took four years of FRENCH in high school...if I had only known...

The dual language model in my school district is the 50/50 model - 50% of the time we speak Spanish, 50% of the time we speak English.  Certain subjects (math) are delivered solely in English.  We use a "language of the day" which means in the fall semester we speak Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with English being the language on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This reverses in the Spring semester.  A few years ago I began to question the exact nature of music's role in the dual language environment.  Basically, as long as the "social language" used is in the language of the day, you are satisfying the dual language environment basic requirements.

To satisfy this basic level of compliance with the dual language process, familiarize yourself with simple commands you use daily, "Please sit down, turn to page, raise your hand, choose another student, open/close your books, pass out the instruments, line up..."  Just knowing these few phrases will take you quite far in complying with the dual language program.

However, I wanted music class to be a bit more than just "meeting the basic requirement" so I got busy researching musical terms in Spanish.  This was a daunting task as there are times in music when there simply ISN'T a word in Spanish for what we are talking about.  I particularly had difficulty locating a word for "beat" ("ritmo" is what you will encounter) but after having a discussion with a colleague who was born in Mexico, I learned a fitting word that I have been using - compás.  I have always kept a word wall in my room - it is color coded by topic to assist students but I also use these when posting my objectives for each class.  In the dual language program, English words are to be written in blue, Spanish words in red.  Here is a glimpse at my word wall (I realize the photo doesn't allow you to read many of the words, but my word wall takes up a lot of space!):

These are laminated and have magnets attached so I can simply grab one and place it by the appropriate verbs for my objective for the day.  Here is the way I have these same statements in both languages (these were created before the red/blue instructions were given and I never changed them since they work just fine for my students):

Using this method, it is quite simple for me to have on my board, "Hoy voy a ser capaz de identificar, tocar, leer, y cantar ritmos con corcheas."  (Today I will be able to identify, play, read, and sing rhythms with eighth notes.) without writing a single thing.  Plus, the students frequently see where I pull the word from the word wall so they know where to find it if they need to reference it later in the year.

Last year and continuing into this year, I have started delivering my Spanish classes (on Spanish language days) almost entirely in Spanish.  If I come to a bump in the road and don't know a particular Spanish term, I simply ask the students.  No, I do NOT change my lesson plans to solely incorporate Spanish music.  If a song happens to be in Spanish, then fine, but I don't make two separate sets of materials.  After all, in music class we sing music in many different languages.  When teaching music in English and I use the song "Tanabata" I do not translate the song's words or title into English - the song is Japanese, so that's how it stays.  This means a second grade Spanish class may begin like this:

"Buenos días. Los siguientes estudiantes deben pasar los libros hoy ... cuando usted recibe su libro, por favor vaya a la página ... la canción se titula 'Lemonade'."  (Good morning.  The following students should pass out books today...when you receive your book, please turn to page...the song is called "Lemonade.")  So I don't need to keep repeating the page number, I have this section on my board as well:

The student books are sectioned in colors, so I write the page number in the color of the section next to these sentence strips that remain on my board - this helps the students get to the page more quickly - especially younger students who have difficulty finding pages like 366! 

Years ago we were trained in a discipline program that involved asking four questions.  I keep these posted in my classroom as well.  Again, these were made prior to the red/blue instruction so I have kept them in their original colors which were basically reversed (but the "red" is actually pink):

When reviewing classroom rules, I have adapted the Whole Brain Teaching concept of using hand motions that go with my five classroom rules.  These five rules are posted solely in English (a poster I had created long before the dual language program was introduced in my district); however, I go over these rules in Spanish on Spanish language days and the hand motions also help the English Language Learners grasp the meaning of the English classroom rules.  Next to the rules I have a large poster of our school Values Code which was given to me in both languages.

Adapting to the dual language environment has been a process.  I have had to do a bit of "front-end investment" work, but it has paid off.  I make use of online translation sites and Spanish/English dictionaries quite often.  A great tool for businesses (but not necessarily solely for businesses - educators can benefit too!) is Smartling.  They provide translation services and translate websites for business communication.  If you find yourself doing more translating than teaching, you may want to check out the services Smartling has to offer.

By adopting this new, more intense adoption of the dual language model in my music classes, my students whose first language is Spanish have a whole new respect for me and my class.  Prior to me going "whole hog" with the dual language integration, many of my students would ask, "Do you speak Spanish, sir?"  Since I have been conducting my classes in this manner, I don't think I've had a single student ask that question.

If a dual language situation comes to your school, relax, flow with it.  You CAN do it.  And you and your students will be all the richer for it!

Until next time...