Saturday School

The Goal of the Saturday School program is for students to reach a level of proficiency in their heritage language to equal proficiency levels required in Latin America for their age group. The catalyst is knowledge of their cultures.

The Goal of grade level achievement will have the Objectives of grade level reading, writing and knowledge of culture. The Goals and Objectives do align. After initial assessment of the students, children of Latin American immigrants who speak Spanish at home or for whom Spanish is their mother tongue, a customized constructivist study plan will be made.

The children will be taught in small groups of 5-7 students with an integrated intra-curricular instruction using culture and history of Latin America in presentations of multi-media, books, music, film and computer, as well as story telling. The students will make presentations both verbally and written for frequent assessments of various methods. The program will be frequently evaluated for effectiveness.

Design Review

The tools, processes, and technologies that we have explored are invaluable to instructional design because they give it the structure, life and future it needs to successfully empower the learner with the knowledge and skills required in this twenty-first century. The tools are all of the acronym-named systematic designs we now have to choose from. The processes are those we design using guidelines formulated by those who came before us. It is by using these processes a better design is developed. Without them the design would depend upon but one person—the designer.

If the whole instructional design depends upon no more that the personal intuition of a designer, and if that designer did not instinctively know the appropriate methods and theories, learners themselves and their learning styles, tasks and objective outcomes, information available for instruction and technologies that could be used, it would be impossible to design well.

The new element of technology in the design is something few instructional designers can master for long—because it changes! Technologies are constantly changing and challenging both instructor and student. This cooperative challenge is part of what will revolutionize learning. By having to face similar challenges together, student and teacher, the democratization process begins. I would hope to use this to best advantage in my design. I would hope more viable programs will be developed in Spain and Latin America. It is not the direct translation of software from English to Spanish that would most help this program. It is the direct creation of technological advances custom made from these Spanish speaking cultures that would be most useful to these children. In order to build upon existing knowledge the base must be native to Spanish not only in words. Its very form must be true to the language and culture.

It is in this spirit of constructivist learning that I design this program. The efforts I have extended to write a Saturday School design for the children of new immigrants for whom Spanish is their first language could be put into action with sufficient funding and a year of lead time to establish it. During this time I would have to run preliminary evaluations of students as well. At present it is a theoretical construct.

I could imagine applying for a grant and working on a pilot program, even as a study program for a PhD and ending in a wonderful story told in journal article form. This would be a model for programs around the country, and even if the program extended no further than preschool to third grade it could potentially make a huge difference in society. Well done and well attended such a program would achieve all the goals I set. These are not meerly wishes or goals that only point direction but may never be achieved. These are goals that can and should be achieved in the Latin American community. Similar goals have been met in the Asian community to great success.

The topics covered in this course are all of vital use in creative teaching in schools, or in instructional design. The birth of constructivist theories, many formulated before I was born, was not enough to change the way children are taught. It is the application of these theories that will revolutionize learning. It may be through instructional design that these ideas spread. The basic framework or structure of the design of educational programs was easily based upon ADDIE in my model, and could be for others as well. It is a good starting point for learning design.

The whole idea of Needs Assessment is not explored in everyday teaching. I found it fascinating and shall make it a part of all planning in the future. It is just as viable to traditional education as to constructivist reforms and should be used in all teaching scenarios. The Learner and Contextual Analysis is closely tied to this and although I could not use it in my design because I do not know my learners nor do they exist, I can see that it is key to successful programs. In fact, other research in Educational Psychology points to just this fact—a teacher who better knows his/her students promotes more learning.

The Goals and Outcomes portion was very important, and I applied it to the Strategic Planning Committee work I did for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. As they set goals I could critique them intelligently and comment knowledgably upon their effectivness and measurability. I used the ABCD method for lining up goals with outcomes and found it very useful; as I am sure Instructional Designers do in the real world.

Although the New Technologies we explored in the classroom are not directly applicable to the program I am designing, unless in Spanish or adapted for small children, we did learn how they can be applied to the young university student who is familiar with all the newest software available. In my project design it is discouraging that materials I would like to use are not yet available online from Spain and Latin America. This could happen in the not too distant future though.

The beauty of the Assessment and Evaluation process is that it can be applied throughout and not in classification of students but in aid of their learning. This is a threatening concept to traditional style teachers. I can imagine it in the classrooms I observe and find it would work marvelously well. Would the teacher agree? Perhaps not. That is the sad truth. The more Instructional Designers that show the effectiveness of alternative evaluations the more convinced teachers will be. As far as my design is concerned, these alternative assessment techniques would be used often and as part of the learning process. As the Saturday School is not part of a formal school, letter grades would not be required, and it is a perfect place to begin such assessments. This type of alternative assessments described in our readings would be wholeheartedly used in my design.

A&E

Assessment and Evaluation is key to the success of this design. In this Saturday School model, the assessments will be authentically alternative. They will be well-recorded assessments in the records of the program for future consultation, but will not be formal in the tradition of schools. The assessment results should be discussed with the parents at least twice each school year, for their information as well as for feedback for the children as they learn. New methods may be tried if old ones are not working. The flexibility of work at home can be an advantage. For example, tools such as DVD's, CD's, and Cassette tapes of music and stories can be used at home for entertainment for all the family. If books do not work, perhaps these technologies will.

Within the context of learning culture, the first priority in the program, there are multiple meanings for common knowledge. Words may be used differently in different Latin American countries. The same holiday may be celebrated differently. Foods may be prepared similarly, but eaten with different accompaniments. Multiple meanings of learning will be acceptable, in fact searched for. Personal history can be compared with written history, which may mean the poor man's view will be compared with the educated upper class man's view.

Learning will be an active process, and for the young children, hands on. As many activities as can be will be active projects and in three dimensions. Continually the learner's knowledge will be called upon to set the stage for further knowledge. Connecting to experience will be the key to unlock the lesson plan. The rooms will be full of art and entertainment, or in terms of assessment tools--projects and presentations.

The way each child learns language will be observed just as closely as the language acquisition. The same will be true for history and culture learning. Once the method of learning is known then the teacher may design the next lesson specifically for the children.

As the children explore, inquiry will be encouraged. Open-ended questions will be used in lessons, as well as openness to questions from students. Curiosity will be rewarded with excitement and exploration for the whole class--with such a wide goal as to learn a whole language; it does not matter in what order it is learned. As the children age lessons may be more concrete, but in the beginning preschool stages curiosity will be encouraged in all aspects.

As the children age a certain purpose of lessons will be made clear to facilitate learning and key concepts. Within the purpose though, creative discourse will be encouraged.

All abilities will be assessed, not just cognitive. The manner in which the children approach, for example, problem solving may be automatically transferred to English as a Second Language learning skill. The cognitive skills must have a strong base to stand on and will not stand alone when evaluating a student.

Assessment will be subjective, as the children will be working so closely with one teacher, but will be well guided and documented. The teachers will be well trained in assessments and evaluations. Projects can be evaluated, and the child would be assessed in more ways than just looking at class work answers. The way in which each child learns would be documented.

The learning will be shared with direction from the teacher. The children will be allowed to pursue, within the general purpose, learning of their choice. If there were technological materials available online that they could use they may have more to choose from, but at present the materials would be reading, games, and cultural history storytelling. Recording their discoveries would also be a big part of the learning process and entail writing in Spanish.

Collaborations would be greatly encouraged, as the native speakers can help each other in many ways that the teacher may not be able to. Positive behavior would be encouraged and modeled. Collaboration as a concept would be taught and fair play would be part of that setup. It would be through the children's interests that the learning would begin.

Key to the process as well would be peer assessments and assessments of the teacher by students and parents. Feedback must be constant and constantly addressed in order to best fit the learning styles of the students. If it is part of the process from the very beginning it will never seem out of place.

To Do: Research Existing Programs

Research reveals that the Latino population have especially low enrollment rates compared to Black and Anglo preschoolers in preschools and centers, even after taking into account maternal employment and family income. The lower enrollment rate appears to be primarily in families that speak Spanish in the home (Liang, 2000).

Although some high schools offer after-school Spanish language programs, such as Liberty High School in New York City, there is more research to support the positive effects in second language reading skills by teaching Spanish skills in intervention at a younger age, such as in first-grade (Linan-Thompson, 2006).

The use of trained parents for language instruction has positive results in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean communities. Students learn from a native speaker. Intercultural communication and personal relationships are built between instructors and parents and between the families themselves. The parents feel they are making a significant contribution to their new home society by teaching the children, especially if in a public school setting (Cooper, 1999).

The use of professionals understanding Positive Behavioral Support practices (PBS) involves understanding and respecting the values of the culture of the family. Four key features to understanding the culture are collaborative partnerships, functional assessment, contextual fit and meaningful lifestyle outcomes (Wang, 2007).

Therefore my preliminary research reveals that successes in existing programs can guide the design of this Saturday School program. There is a need for preschool level instruction for the Latino child from a Spanish-speaking household. Although it was not mentioned in my research, the common feeling among educators I spoke with was that illegal immigrants were afraid to register for any formal school or government program that would entail they risk deportation due to their illegal status. At thier Catholic church they are not afraid that their status as illegal immigrants will be revealed to the authorities. This is one reason the church classrooms may be a safe environment--because the parents would feel safe and be willing to utilize the program and participate in it as long as they did not have to show any documentation to register their child.

My research here and before shows that there is a need for reading comprehension in Spanish at the begin-to-read level of first-grade to boost reading comprehension in English. Using parents, even uneducated ones, to teach Spanish can be an advantage for their fluency and native speaking abilities, as well as for their cultural story telling. Getting to know these parents by having them help in the classroom will instruct teachers in the culture and lifestyle of the family to better understand the children. In order to model both positive behavior and learning skills, understanding of the family could be a key factor. This use of cultural understanding has shown successful results with PBS in the Asian communities.

References:

Cooper,T., & Maloof, V. (1999) The Journal of Educational Research (Washington DC). 92 no3 p. 176-83.

Linan-Thompson, S., Mathes, P., & Vaughn, S. (2006). Effectiveness of Spanish Intervention for First-Grade English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39 no 1 p. 56-73.

Liang, X., Fuller, B., & Singer, J. (2000). Ethnic differences in child care selection: the influence of family structure, parental practices, and home language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, v. 15 no. 3, p. 357-84.

Wang, M., McCart, A., & Turnbull, A. (2007) Implementing Positive Behavior Support With Chinese American Families: Enhancing Cultural Competence. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions. v. 9 no. 1 p. 38-51.

Strategies for Instruction

The design of this program should require a learning outcome of grade level skills in Spanish for every student. The assessment strategies will be testing similar to testing in the Mexican Public School Curriculum as well as alternative assessments of grade level achievement by teachers and fellow students. All references to grade level achievement will be set by this Mexican curriculum which is readily available at the Mexican Consulate. The strategies for instruction will be closely aligned with the sought for objectives.

The three main objectives are:

--Read Spanish at grade level

--Write Spanish at grade level

--Know Latin American culture at grade level

The instructional strategies for these three objectives will match technological implementation, learning resources and teaching style with learning style needs that are determined upon initial evaluation of the students. As the design is theoretical the strategies that could be chosen are as follows:


1. Integrated curriculum using culture and history to excite students about reading and writing Spanish

2. Classes conducted completely in Spanish

3. Constructivist principles guiding instruction allowing for student curiosity and input

4. Instructional groups will be of 5-7 students for each teacher. Project and reading groups sizes will vary within the instructional group. (Students will be given the choice of working with small groups or as individuals on projects.)

5. Strategies for cultural proficiency will be:

Parent and teacher storytelling
Reading material in Spanish rich in cultural traditions and history
Music traditional to Latin America as background music in class and to be sent home for listening (CD's for car stereos)
Singing traditional Spanish songs in class.
Using Mexican Public Schooling curriculum requirements for history knowledge at grade level as a guide.
Acting out traditional Latin American cultural traditions in play form, or making a film to show classmates.
Reading great literature selections in Spanish.

6. Strategies for reading proficiency will be:

Similar strategies as used in English reading instruction will be used, for example: phonetics, the Wilson program.
Integrating reading materials with classroom instruction to immerse students in subject matter and excite them about it
Reading materials will be plentiful for in class reading as well as pleasure reading at home.
Rather than checking out materials, small printouts are preferable for take home to keep.
CD's and DVD's of age appropriate music, movies and games may be sent home with those who have technology at home
Film, DVD, and computer presentations (power points with pictures, or any Spanish web sources) can accompany reading

7. Strategies for writing proficiencies will be:

For younger students, play acting and creative construction of stories along cultural lines
Play and film writing will be used in group project work
Publication in Spanish newspapers of reports, poetry and prose, as well as letters to the editor
Book reports to be presented to other students will be written, similar to school work in English
Essays for assessment will be required for grade level proficiency evaluation

8. Assessment would be made of student progress using Mexican Public School curriculum as a guide for each grade level. Alternative assessments would also be made by teachers who will be trained to do so for projects, presentations, and portfolios. Reporting to families will be done at least twice yearly to note progress towards goals set individually for each student. The plan of study for each student will be assessed at least once annually for revisions, Teacher strategies will also be assessed annually for revisions.

In summary, the course work will be language and culture integrated, completely in Spanish, constructivist in nature, varied in technological support, and depend upon initial evaluations for individual design. Students will work closely with teachers in small groups or individually. The evaluation of the program as a whole, and student progress will be made along the way to insure responsiveness to learner needs.

To Do: Obtain Teaching Materials

In the implementation of instructional strategies teaching materials in Spanish would be obtained from Mexico, Spain, and other Latin American countries. The rules governing use of these materials seem favorable to educational uses of protected works. Spain, as well as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and the United States are all member nations of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Their agreements of 1996 from Geneva, Switzerland are understood to include free use of intellectual property, which means use without having to compensate the rights owner for the use of the work without authorization. Examples of this free use are:

1.) Quoting from a protected work, provided that the source of the quotation and the name of the author is mentioned, and that the extent of the quotation is compatible with fair practice.
2.) Use of works by way of illustration for teaching purpose
3.) Use of works for the purpose of news reporting

(Source: http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/freepublications/en/intproperty/909/wipo_pub_909.pdf on November 4, 2007)

These agreements are felt by some Latin Americans to serve big business, not the developing nations. Some Latin American countries have initiatives to abolish these copyright agreements and national copyright laws. The Literary and Artistic International Association is meeting this weekend in Punta del Este, Uruguay, for their annual congress to discuss just such issues.

There is a lot of "pirating" of books, DVD's and CD's that make reading, movies and music affordable for the poor. In Peru a pirated CD or book is called "Bamba" and commonly sold in the more rudimentary marketplaces. These international accords and national copyright laws are not well enforced in the case of pirated items in poor neighborhoods. This is especially true in Central America, according to Mr. Ballesteros who was the secretary general of the World Intellectual Property Organization from 1986 to 1999.

At any rate, the use of protected work for teaching purposes is clearly allowed by the OMPI, Organizacion Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (World Intellectual Property Organization) and can be used in the United States from all of these member countries for the Saturday School design. In fact, from my preliminary research, I suspect they may have fewer restrictions on their use for teaching purposes than materials produced and copyrighted in the United States

A Line from Needs to Deeds

To align tasks with needs and goals the illustration attached may be helpful. The Saturday School Program would begin the first year with three and four year olds at the pre-kindergarten level. The program would grow to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten the second year.

The kindergarten teacher would have been trained by the pre-kindergarten teachers the first year. The kindergarten teacher would be observed by and train the first grade teacher during the second year of the program. In the second year of the program there would be only two grades: pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. The third year of the program the first grade teacher would be observed by and train the second grade teacher. In the third year of the program there would be three grades: pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade.

The Saturday School program would grow year by year in a similar fashion. As the original group of four year old children advance year by year, so will the program grow, year by year, one year at a time. By thirteen years time the original children from the first year of the program will be graduating from high school. The goal of the Saturday School program would be for these children at this time to be well enough prepared in Spanish to be able to enter a Latin American or Spanish University program, as well as one in the United States.

ABCD

The Goal of the Saturday School program is for students to reach a level of proficiency in their heritage language to equal proficiency levels required in Latin America for their age group. Although it may take a few years for each student to reach this goal, it remains the high standard to which the program would stirve.

The Objectives to meet this goal would be cusomized for each student. They may be generalized as per the ABCD method, (Audience, Behavior, Conditions, Degree.) Although the acronym for setting Goals and Objectives is as simple as A-B-C, the actual detailed analysis necessary for doing this is not. Without explaining customized objectives for each student, the method may be applied as follows:

Audience:

The audience this program will be addressing is composed of the children of immigrants from Latin America who speak Spanish at home, or for whom Spanish was their mother tongue. The audience is not well known because each student would have to be evaluated before beginning the Saturday School program in this design.

Behavior:

The learners will be able to speak, read and write Spanish on grade level. The learners will also be able to retain knowledge of their culture and history to encourage language learning. The specific objectives would be formed after evaluation of each student. Overall, the program's objectives would be for each student to reach grade level skills as would be judged in Latin America for Latin American students.

Conditions:

The learners would be able to perform objectives without prompts and without paper and pencil testing (ie: multiple choice questions). The learners would eventually be able to take the same tests their cohorts would be taking in Latin America for grade level accuracy and skills in Language, Reading, Culture and History.

Degree:

The degree of performance would be the same as required of students in Latin America. It would take perhaps many years to meet this degree of skill in the heritage language, but by transferring skills learned in English to Spanish the process would be sped up the older the students become.

The degree of performance required of each student would be spelled out specifically in each student's plan of study monthly. The objectives would be customized for each child and clearly understood. The degree of skill in Spanish required to meet the overall objectives would be age level skills required in Latin America.

Noting Hannum

The great difficulty in designing the task analysis is the lack of knowledge about the specific students. Even so, in the process of more detailed Task Analysis as per Hannum the following may be noted:

1.) Task Inventory

Students in the pilot Saturday School program should be able to
a.) Speak Spanish fluently
b.) Read Spanish fluently with grade level comprehension levels
c.) Write Spanish fluently with grade level composition levels
d.) Retain knowledge of culture and history of Latin America at grade level expectations

2.) Task Selection (in order of priortity after survey of Spanish teachers)

1-Retain knowledge of culture and history of Latin America at level set individually for each student after pre-test
2-Speak Spanish fluently at level set individually for each student after pre-test
3-Read Spanish fluently at level set individually for each student after pre-test
4-Write Spanish fluently at level set individually for each student after pre-test

3.) Task Analysis

The Spanish culture, history and language learning are all considered both behavioral and cognitive learning tasks. The task of learning these "tasks" for each child will by aided procedurally by:

First- Pre-testing and observation to note individual child's Spanish verbal skills, reading skill in Spanish and reading comprehension in Spanish, written skills in Spanish, as well as knowldge base of Latin American history and culture.

Second-using ESL and Lectura Proactiva (which is similar to a teaching program for reading in English called Wilson) individualized monthly objectives will be discerned and teaching methods implemented. Only Spanish will be spoken in these courses, no other language, as speaking a heritage language is crucial to learning (Potowski, 2004). These objectives will be communicated to student and the student's family.

Third--Teaching and learning will take place in small learning groups on Satruday mornings with monthly oral assessments and in some cases written assessment of students to show if objectives have been met. Using traditional task analysis methods or traditional paper and pencil multiple choice tests would not encompass constuctivist activities these courses would use and the traditional instructional design can be lacking for such alternative pedagogies (Der-Thanq, Hung and Wang, 2007).

Fourth--Monthly evaluation of each student's objectives will take place using results of any assessments or post-tests as guides; any adaptations necessary will be made at that point. Frequent evaluation and re-design will be necessary as there are few proven methods to improve performance in a second language by boosting heritage language skills, except the connection with the child's culture by the teacher and consistency of Spanish instruction beyond basic reading skills (Mathes, Pollard-Durodola, Cardenas-Hagan, Linan-Tompson, Vaughn, 2007).

Fifth--Rewards and recognition will take place for each student as he or she meets an objective and this recognition will be communicated to the student's family.

Sixth--At the end of the school year a Post-test will be given similar to the ESL pre-tests. Each student's plan will be customized after analysis of results. Each student will be given revised objectives for the new year.

References:

Der-Thanq, C., Hung, D. & Wang, Y. (2007) Educational design as a quest for congruence: The need for alternative learning design tools, British Journal of Educational Technology,Vol 38 No 5, 876-884.

Hannum, W., Notes on How to Conduct Task Analysis, (no other reference information given in LIS 672 course at UNCG)

Mathes, P., Pollard-Durodola, S., Cardenas-Hagan, E., Linan-Thompson, S., & Vaughn, S. (2007). Teaching Struggling Readers Who Are Native Spanish Speakers: What Do We Know?, Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, Vol 38, 260-271.

Potowski, K. (2004). Student Spanish Use and Investment in a Dual Immersion Classroom: Implications for Second Language Acquisition and Heritage Language Maintenance, The Modern Languages Journal, 88, 1, 75-101.

Analyzing the Task Ahead

The focus of the task is to teach children of Spanish speaking families the Spanish language, culture, and history. The method to be used will be the "lectura proactiva" method (see below) in small learning groups. Strategies will include a starting point analysis of students' reading levels in both Spanish and English, background knowledge of culture and history of Latin America, as well as instruction to families about how the program will work. The courses will meet individualized objectives throughout the year. Evaluation, perhaps more frequently in start-up groups, will be done on a regular basis to assure objectives in reading, grammar, comprehension and oral fluency are met in the Spanish language, as well as evaluation of retention of subject matter. Subject matter for course materials and activities will be culture and history comparable to what children of the same age are learning in Latin America.

Criterion tests will be similar to ESL testing for evaluation, even using ESL test scores when parents make that available to the program.

Children will have individualized objectives constructed under the following precepts:

1.) Identifying the skills to be learned
2.) Determining which of these skills take preference, and which need attention in small group teaching, which will be done at home
3.) Identifying the requirements for the objective skill to be considered learned

These individualized objectives will be constructed on a one-to-one basis in initial evaluations and subsequent evaluations throughout the year. This program would be year long. At the end of one year reading levels in both Spanish and English will be evaluated as a post-test result of instruction.

Contextual Analysis

The mode of delivery, as discussed in the criteria for my needs assessment, would be small reading groups with well trained teachers as group leaders. A mix of consistent repetitive instruction with pulling exisiting knowledge for scaffolding and letting the children's interests guide subject matter (within teacher chosen subjects) would set the tone for the courses.

Children would have to be evaluated early on to determine reading ability levels in both Spanish and English. ESL testing exists for this and could be already done. It could be a matter of having the parents access this information for the program. Testing could be used on the public school model within the program. I worked with an elementary school ESL program in Greensboro that is very effective and could use their testing procedures as a model.

Materials would be books read in classes, crafts made, tapes sent home to listen to in the car, videos or DVD's to watch of favorite cartoons. It would not matter if the cartoons had been seen already in English. In fact this could accelerate Spanish learning. Information could also be delivered by a newsletter for parents about the program published weekly, in addition to listening and reading materials for the children to take home that Parents could help with. Parents will need to be educated to how the program will work in the classroom and what is expected at home.

The learners need to feel connected not only to the Spanish language, but more importantly to the culture of their parents' as well. The course materials must be carefully selected in accordance with set learning objectives as well as student interests, within the curriculum chosen of lectura proactiva, and customized for each and every student's level of comprehension. This is a huge task, but feasible in small learning groups.

The objectives of each and every lesson must be clear to the teacher, student and parents. Each time a student meets an objective there must be some recognition or reward. They must be tiered and clearly communicated.

The readings and course work should include relevant instructional subject matter relating to the history and culture of Latin America. Materials must be well researched and chosen at first by teachers and secondly by a study group of students for high interest levels. The children must be challenged on a level comparable to their peers in Latin America. This is a key to the success of the program.

Learning about Learners

I have not heard back from the Spanish teachers I sent my research question to. A friend who is a Spanish teacher in this area attended a conference for Spanish teachers last week and agreed to approach the teachers personally and ask them to help me with my project. I hope to have some information soon.

What I do know about the learner population I have chosen is that it is very challenging to spark an interest in their native language learning unless they can appreciate their rich culture and exquisite history. It may be difficult to spark an interest in learning at all with some bad experiences under their belts at school.

With so much emphasis on melting into our culture here in the US, Spanish learning can be de-emphasized. Meanwhile knowing their family culture is a little different, but not knowing why, makes it difficult to spark an interest in learning to read and write in Spanish. Teachers in school may not know much about their culture and can not identify with it.

The bilingual skill is invaluable, and the gift of literacy in oral Spanish without the reading and writing component is only a partial gift. The earlier the intervention the better the chance of boosting not only Spanish learning, but English as well, as a transferred skill. The better educated the child is in the mother tongue, and the earlier, the better the chance they can excel in English.

There is a great physical problem with getting to an educational program for these children, and through the generosity of a church some free transportation may be provided directly from school to after-school in busses. The parents would appreciate the free after-school child care while they work. The non-working parents can even accompany children on the bus and network, or take courses of their own, while the children study. They can also help with instruction and supervision at play time.

The children may never have seen the country their parents were born in, and thus are familiar with only the language and stories their parents tell. They also live within a community that practices customs from Latin America without knowing the reasons behind the customs in most cases. They may not readily see the importance of their culture.

The children may be unwilling to study more, the parents unaware of the value of native Spanish instruction, and the interest in such a program may be slow in growing. Once parents see the successes of the program they may want their children to participate. The program must be free as financial means are scarce to afford tutoring. The make up of the classroom will be children that need a place to feel important, who may hate school because of setbacks in English during the day in class. A feeling of community must be developed early on.

The children may have learning disabilities disassociated with language and this must be known or monitored. A close relationship with the parents and school counselor would be key to the success of the program.

The objectives will be the same for all children--literacy in Spanish--and so a committment must be made on the part of the parents to consistently send the children to the program. Some reward must be evident to the children and parents for attending the program or they may not participate. This must be well investigated before beginning the program--what will attract families to participate?

Criteria for Needs

To construct needs assessment for my design project I used the article, A Needs Assessment Audit (Kaufman, 1994), organized by the levels of results from Maga to Micro. This is based upon the ADDIE Instructional Design Model. This being highly recommended both by our professor and the author Hannum (Hannum, 2005), seemed the most fitting choice for my design. I chose this both as a learning experience to familiarize myself with the ADDIE model, and as a challenge to an out-of-school educational program for children.

The performance goals would be literacy in Spanish and basic familiarity with the history and culture of Latin America, similar to that expected of students in Latin American countries.

There is a great need for instructional intervention on a daily basis (Mathes, 2007). Native Spanish speakers, in order to transfer skills in their mother tongue, Spanish, to their second language, English, must have these skills in Spanish on a continued basis.

Classrooms would be used after school and on weekends in the school adjacent to the Church that the majority of the target Latino community attends. Although the courses would be in a traditional classroom, the course would need to be interesting to the children. The environment for learning would include programs for outside the classroom as well. A form of immersion would be sought with home readings, music to listen to in their car (cassette or CD players are common in their cars or trucks), as well as videos or DVD's to watch at home of favorite cartoons or shows in Spanish on television.

The learning environment would be classrooms with well trained teachers. Small instruction groups would be used. Just the prerequesite of speaking Spanish is not enough to quality as a teacher. The parents of the children could make cultural presentations to the children to transfer stories of heritage to the younger generation. They would, however, not be relied upon as main teachers. Many of the parents are uneducated in Spanish or English. Parents would enrich the learning environment with personal connections to the history and culture of a country these children have perhaps never seen. I could teach a pilot program with the help of at least one more highly qualified teacher.

There is an existing curricula used in a study group which I could use for the beginning readers called lectura proactiva (Mathes,Linan-Thompson, Pollard-Duradola, Hagan, & Vaughn, 2001). I would have to extend and expand the program of my own design for children already reading in Spanish. I have found, through personal tutoring, that once a child is in fourth, fifth or sixth grade and does not have basic reading skills in Spanish that much of the same material must be covered, but may be covered at a faster pace than for non-readers. The reading skills learned in English may be transferred to Spanish, and with less instruction than for non-readers they may learn to read in Spanish. The philosophy of lectura proactiva is that using the same type of instruction that helps slow learners read in English will work in Spanish, with adaptations for difference in language and grammar. The strategy is small instructional groups with repetition and consistency. The learning theory will be a mix of behavioral, cognitive as well as constructivist learning. The structured course, consistency and repetiton is behavioral. The use of tie-in to the students' Latin culture and heritage is building upon knowledge they bring to the classroom and found to be effective in teaching. (Mathes, 2007) The constructivist portion I would add is allowing the children to contribute, even to write in Spanish--creative writing.

There is one set of classroom laptop computers that I may be able to borrow from the school, or at the Middle School level a computer lab. I would have to research what is available in software, probably from Spain. There are overhead projectors in the classrooms, whiteboards, and the elementary school Spanish teacher does have some limited resources she may be willing to lend me.

The class would be composed of children in the Spanish speaking community who attend the service in Spanish on Sunday afternoons at the church. These children are attending public school for the most part, some are scholarship students at the private school attached to the church.

The environment for learning would be based in elementary classrooms at the school which hold up to 26 students. There is a gym, library, computer lab, art and music trailers, as well as a science lab on the property. I could possibly visit these rooms on a rotating daily basis for after-school programs.

The philosophy of the school is faith-based instruction. Part of the classes may be parental religious education for the group, if the children are not already enrolled in religious education during church attendence time. The taboos of the larger community would not be more restrictive than the public school system where the students attend. In fact, they may have more freedom to play and meet outdoors with the existing after-school program which meets in the gym, playground, and an ajoining room to the gym.

The learners would be the children of the Spanish speaking community in our area. They could be born in the United States, or abroad, but would have been spoken to in Spanish by their parent(s) at home from an early age. All children from this community would be welcome, regardless of their reading level in Spanish or English, regardless of whether or not their parents attend this church. Class size would be limited due to the curriculum demanding small study groups.

References:

Kaufman, R., (1994) A Needs Assessment Audit. p&i.

Mathes, P. G., Linan-Thompson, S., Pollard-Duradola, S.D., Hagan, E.C., & Vaughn, S. (2001) Lecturea proactiva para principiantes: Intensive small group instruction for Spanish speaking readers. (Available from Patricia G. Mathes, Institute for Reading research, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 850381, Dallas, TX 75275.)

Mathes, P.G., Pollard-Durodola, S. D., Cardenas-Hagan, E., & Linan-Thompson, S. (2007) Teaching Struggling Readers Who Are Native Spanish Speakers: What Do We Know? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30, p. 260-271.

Needs Assessment at Every Level

Mega-Level Results

Large societal scale results of my project Saturday School for Spanish Speakers would be increased quality of life for the Spanish speaking community, better citizens and lower crime levels.

Macro-Level Results

The School would deliver a higher quality of life to Spanish speakers by increasing their pride in their heritage, opening new economic possibilities with Spanish fluency in both verbal and written language, and by increasing integration into the United States' society and work force by creating more college educated native Spanish speakers.

Micro-Level Results

The individual students would have greater knowledge of their own mother tongue and culture. This knowledge can be transferred to English, their second language, and should facilitate learning in English. The Spanish speaking students should do better academically in school with more skills in their first language.

My Ideal Vision

My ideal vision would be a fully bi-lingual child of Spanish speaking immigrants who could utilize the native culture and language, both verbal and written, to great advantage in our society or the world. This vision would include utilizing this knowledge for transferring skills, such as reading comprehension, to English. Upon graduating from the Saturday school program these students should be as fluent in Spanish as in English, and proficient in both.

Research Request

This is the research request letter I sent out to Spanish teachers who have special courses for Spanish for Spanish speakers:

Dear

I was referred to you and your program of Spanish for Spanish Speakers at the Middle School level. I am a graduate student at UNCG pursuing a MEd with emphasis on Instructional Design (ID). I am also fluent in Spanish, have lived in Peru for many years, and currently teach at a nearby school.

For my ID course this semester I am designing a Saturday school program for elementary age native Spanish speakers similar to the Chinese community Saturday school which teaches the children their mother tongue language and culture.

I believe we could actually initiate such a program. In researching this possibility I wondered what you see as the needs for these children in such a program. Your input is invaluable and may be either emailed to me or sent by mail. I thank you in advance for taking the time to help us with this worthy investigation.

Yours truly,
Aerin Benavides

The Focus

Lamenting lack of education among the poor world wide and wanting to find a way to reach them, I will concentrate my project on a nearby population with a perceived need of native language education as well as a need for familiarity with their own culture which could promote self-esteem.

Many immigrant farm workers in our area were not well educated in their country of origin. While they are able to pass on the spoken mother tongue, Spanish, they are not able to pass on history, culture, literature or even written grammar. Lacking these key components to Spanish, their children are not able to transfer these skills to their second language studies, in English. Knowledgeable pride in the culture their parents came from is lacking as well.

It has been noted that older Latin American students, especially those born in the United States to new immigrants, those who reach college level instruction, find a newborn interest in their parents' native language when they learn of their culture and history. Using this idea as a springboard, as well as the recorded successes of the Chinese and Korean Saturday Schools that promote their parents' culture and language, I will design a similar program for elementary age students in the Latin American immigrant population of Chapel Hill/Carrboro.

I will first assess needs and develop a rough overall plan, or Instructional Design. A method of needs assessment would be to survey area teachers of Spanish for Spanish speakers, as well as families in the area who attend Spanish Mass at St. Thomas More School where I work. With the parents' permission, I could test some students to assess their level of knowledge of culture of origin, as well as their reading and comprehension levels in Spanish.

With this information about what is needed I will analyze what the first course of action would be for a start-up program.

If I can possibly do it, I would start a weekly class and re-assess the students and parents at the end of the semester. I will explore other avenues of instruction, as were used in the Columbia project Hannum discussed.

By focusing on the needs of one population close to home, sensitive to their needs to survive in an ever more demanding world as well as to their cultural heritage and values, I hope to find a way for these students to excel in our system. I would hope to promote cultural pride and unity, as the Chinese and Korean populations have done with their programs.

The Technological Advantage

If we give a small poor child a computer that is self standing and operates in modest conditons with a wind up battery, will that child learn? What will that child learn?

Currently in a wealthy setting if the child is not given some direction or knowledge of judgement (not every source is valid) a misperception may be harder to correct than no conception at all.

There exists a program that does just this--gives a small child a computer. The light on the computer may be the only light at night in the house. The keyboard is sand and waterproof, well sealed. The antena conects the computer to the internet. But what is there the child can comprehend? Images? Language? What language? Where is the teacher?

What is education without the teacher?

The Design for Development

How can we design for the 90% of the world who have little to spend? I would like to do my project on that--pick the Sudan, or another African country, and see what we could do to design instruction for the average 40% who do not get to go to school. And there's no Santa.

The day it began

I am out here in a land I know not, out of Peru, in my home, but out of body in an imaginary place. This is the realm of the mind and what can I learn here?