By Sean Pendergast By Sean Pendergast By Jeff Balke By Richard
Connelly By Jeff Balke By Casey Michel By Craig Hlavaty By Jeff
Balke H e's a nine-year-old third-grader who is segregated in a
special bilingual classroom because he doesn't speak,
understand, read or write English very well. Instead, he spends
his days in the Spanish he understands and hears at home. Carlos
(not his real name, but let's call him that) writes stories,
learns social studies, reads and calculates all in Spanish, all
under the eyes of a very dedicated young teacher. The walls are
covered with bright, cheery pictures and instructions, nearly
all in Spanish. Just because Carlos doesn't know English doesn't
mean he has to fall behind in his classes in school. He can
continue to learn, while his English catches up, and someday he
can make the transition to regular classes. To make that
"someday" happen, Carlos has to do well enough on tests to show
a basic ability to read English. The keys to getting him there
may lie within his English