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Cooper, Abilene High deal with packed Spanish classes
More Education Cooper and Abilene high schools had to shift some "estudiantes" around when they signed up for Spanish classes in droves this school year.
Even so, the Spanish classes are packed near capacity.
"(For) even the best teacher in the world, it's going to be hard to teach when you've got 40 kids in this small, little classroom," said Susan Vann, Cooper's Spanish department head. "If you saw my room right now, it's like a tornado came in and just shoved desks anywhere that it could."
Cooper is operating with one fewer Spanish teacher than last year.
The full Spanish II classes at both high schools are mainly a result of the district offering Spanish I to middle school students for high school credit, officials said.
Abilene High is in a similar situation, with average class sizes for the Spanish II courses in the mid-30s. One section, during the zero-period, has 39 students.
"My feeling is that's created kind of a bubble where we have a number of students that would normally be taking Spanish I are taking Spanish II," Abilene High Principal Terry Bull said. "It's an ongoing process."
This year, the incoming freshmen added to the returning high school students registering for the courses. Counselors said priority was given by seniority if complications arose.
At Cooper, administrators and counselors have been working to get the number of enrolled students below the district-set cap of 36.
Cooper's three Spanish teachers teach six sections of Spanish I and nine of Spanish II, with class sizes ranging from 26 students to 37. Because of the full classes, some of the students were registered for American Sign Language instead.
The sign language class -- in its first year -- has 32, 33 and 34 students enrolled in its three sections at Cooper.
The five teachers at AHS teach six Spanish classes a day with the exception of one AHS coach who teaches four sections.
In fact, the coach was scheduled for three sections and cafeteria duty, but the cafeteria duty was exchanged for an extra Spanish section to lighten the overall load.
David Damian, 16, said that his Spanish II class is more difficult than most of his classes because he has to pay closer attention with so many other students around and that the larger class is more distracting.
"It'd be really easy to look over at someone's quiz, but it's just really crowded even when we try to spread our desks apart," said the Cooper junior.
And though the class sizes may drop below the district's cap, Vann said a class that size is still difficult to handle properly.
"With this many students as we have now, it's just mostly crowd control," said the third-year teacher. "It's a lot easier because you can focus more one-on-one when you only have 20, 25 students as opposed to 35 to 40."
Bull and Cooper Principal Gail Gregg said out-of-whack class sizes aren't uncommon during the first couple days of school.
For example, seven students dropped a seventh-period Spanish I class after the first day. The class size dropped to 30 in one day. That's the kind of natural attrition the administrators expect to help them get classes under the cap.
"We're going to be fine; some way or the other we're going to make it work," Gregg said. "Again, it's day two, OK. In a week or two, we feel like we can get them leveled to where they're manageable."
Although Gregg said he doesn't expect the school to hire additional help because of the district's budget deficit this year, the administration said that if a need arose, they would consider hiring teachers to help with the classes.
"It hasn't been brought to my attention. When it is, or if it is, then we'll certainly sit down and look at it," said Royce Curtis, assistant superintendent for personnel. "We're going to give them a few days to see what they can do to balance it out."
Curtis said that although school has started, hiring new teachers after the first day is not impossible. More commonly, he said, the district might hire a teacher to maintain the state's 22-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio in an elementary school.
But in high schools, the state has no mandate for class sizes.
Bull said the school can't know what to expect until the students are in their seats. They may tweak a few schedules until the class sizes are "bueno."
Posted by B05hun2 on August 27, 2008 at 9:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Este es una problema buena! Muchos estudiantes interesados in espanol.
Posted by abileneres on August 27, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Es lo que you pense tambien. Es muy bueno que la juventud quiera aprender a communicarse en espanol. Siendo que los hispanos somos la raza que esta creciendo mas en los Estados Unidos, siempre se necesita mas gente que puedan hablar espanol para asi poder communicarnos mejor en cualquier cosa que se tenga que hacer.
Posted by Tumbleweed on August 27, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
el problema es las necesidades de Estados Unidos una lengua de todas las necesidades del empleo y del gobierno. English and those that want to speak Klingon can on their own. The government would save so much money if they didn't have to hire translators and print documents for every language under the sun. English only or something only, otherwise we are doomed.
Posted by mct110 on August 27, 2008 at 1:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm moving to Tibet~~~and I will INSIST they learn to speak MY language. Then I will go about changing everything in that country so it will be easier on me.
Posted by abileneres on August 27, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Goodby mct100- have a nice trip & a nice life in Tibet!!
Que te vaya bien- que te vaya mal- que no te pique un animal!!
P.S. Tumbleweed- your spanish makes no sense!!
Posted by Abilenedude077 on August 27, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hahaha. That's funny. But it's not about anyone taking over. This is America, a melting pot of people and cultures. I love the Spanish language, even though I am not that great at speaking it. Don't hate. Learn to appreciate.
Posted by Abilenedude077 on August 27, 2008 at 3:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tumbleweed, educate yourself, sir/ma'am. Most European countries have always had a diversity of languages. They are used to it. Talk to any European, and I'll betcha anything, they know more than 3 languages.
Posted by Tumbleweed on August 27, 2008 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Abilenedude Ask a Frenchman if he speaks English and he will tell you in English no I speak French. One language in the country you visit or live in, why do my taxes owe anyone the right to take a driver’s test in Cantonese when the signs and everything associated with driving is in English. It makes no sense to cater because someone doesn't want to be assimilated.
I have lived in three different countries and each one spoke a language different than English and I was never given the opportunity to conduct business etc in English it was always in the primary language.
Posted by jane_jhereg on August 27, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Abilenedud077 does have a point, many Europeans are multi-lingual. In addition to their own language, they know English and/or the language of a neighboring country- Belgium as a nation is officially bilingual (you'll find street signs in both French and Dutch)... Same too for most Asians- Japanese learn Chinese or English, Chinese learn Japanese or English. The Philippines, while not officially considered a bilingual nation, all citizens are taught to read and speak English beginning their first year in elementary.
True, I get annoyed by having to wade through 4-8 different languages before I get to a set of instructions written in English when I'm trying to program my DVD player.
Its arrogant from both perspectives. It is arrogant to demand that this entire nation be bilingual, you should learn English if you're going to live and work in America. But it is also arrogant to refuse to learn a second language (whether it be Spanish or French or Cantonese or Portuguese or whatever else).
Posted by texrunner2003 on August 27, 2008 at 8:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
America is NOT a melting pot anymore! That is why this country is descending into a Balkan state. American is destroying itself from within as do all great civilizations.
Posted by rampbrat on August 27, 2008 at 9:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Funny. I asked a Frenchman in French if he spoke English and he said yes. Maybe it was your tone of voice. Met a bartender in Switzerland that spoke 6 languages. But the story was about students who WANT to learn a foreign language.
Posted by wagamama on August 31, 2008 at 6:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We had a scientist/speaker at a school assembly a few years ago... He asked the group of 6th graders, "What is a person who speaks three languages called?" The students answered, "trilingual." He asked "What about two languages?" they answered, "bilingual." When he asked "what about one language?" They made up answers like "unilingual" and "monolingual." He answered, "No, they're called Americans." Enough said.
Just because you learn a second language doesn't mean English will become the secondary language in America. We need to think more globally and be able to compete in the world market- including our children.
Posted by wagamama on August 31, 2008 at 6:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Didn't finish that last thought-
Our children need to be able to compete in the world market, and a second language sure is helpful these days. I grew up in a bilingual household and thank my parents for it. As an adult I've learned another language, and am still learning.
Posted by jane_jhereg on September 2, 2008 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
http://tinyurl.com/6znhr3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDshQT...
Posted by frank-curiel on September 3, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wagamama you rock! great posts. and the story was about students wanting to learn spanish for whatever reason, not about esl classes as some narrow minded people try to make this out to be... i think it is awesome that kids want to learn a second language. americans won't forget english because of it, i could ahve taught my kids spanish in the home but CHOSE not to, tehir primary language will always be english, now that they are older if they want to learn then i will teach them. why did i not do it younger? because i didn't want them to have barriers in school, trying to cycle from two seperate languages. now that they have english as a primary there is no problem, and not a barrier any longer. so why do certain people get so riled that their children want to learn spanish and do not share their particular views? times have changed and at eh end of the day the north won the war.
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