Unique Bilingual Education Program Spreading Across New Jersey
In Amanda Castaño’s classroom in a Long Branch public preschool, the four-year-olds get ready for reading circle with a song: “A leer, a leer, todos calladitos!” The native English speakers in the group join in as enthusiastically as the Spanish speakers, and when Castaño begins reading the story – in Spanish – the entire class is rapt.
Next door, the four-year-olds in Sean Kelly’s class raise their hands as he asks questions in English, including several students who started preschool as monolingual Spanish speakers. After a week, the two classes will switch places: Kelly’s students will go to Castaño’s room for a week of learning in Spanish, and Castaño’s students will join Kelly for a week in English.
Bilingual Experiment
The four-year-olds in both classes are part of an experiment in bilingual education in Long Branch preschools.
