Languages, cultures meld

MIDVALE — English speakers learning Spanish: To Maria Requena, that's a gift.

Spanish speakers learning English: That's survival.

Children learning them together: That's a "beautiful human relation."

"You can see English speakers with Spanish speakers and see their respect for culture and language," said Requena, a first-grade teacher whose eyes well up when she speaks of the Dual Language program she started at Midvale Elementary. "They need each other."

Dual Language, which was showcased over the weekend as part of the Educators for Diversity conference at Utah State University, is turning some 140 Midvale students into fluent speakers of both English and Spanish.

The program seems a perfect fit for Midvale Elementary, where 60 percent of students are Spanish-speaking, and most teachers are endorsed to teach English as a second language.

But it's not an ESL crutch, or a bilingual program like some that have sparked national controversy. It more resembles a rigorous enrichment program, funded with gifted and talented money. Participants know English before entering the program, and parents sign off on strict homework, attendance and tardy rules.

The Mexican consulate has visited the school to meet with teachers and deliver Spanish-language textbooks used in Mexican schools. Requena said there's no problem filling the program — it's full, and some requests had to be turned away.

"Both English and Spanish speakers . . . will benefit if they have knowledge of other cultures," Requena said. "Both will be different people. When you have the experience of learning different cultures, different languages, you are a better person."

Utah has a few similar programs. In Utah County, Cherry Hill Elementary's Spanish immersion program has spanned two decades, Barry Graff, Alpine District administrator of south area elementary schools, has said.

Midvale's program grew from Requena's experience as an immigrant from Mexico and as a mother.

"I wanted them to survive and learn the language immediately," she said of her five children. "I put so much attention into English, I worried they would forget who they are. . . . I put it in my heart I will teach them Spanish."

When Requena started teaching at Midvale, most of her students were monolingual. She wanted to change that.

So, she went to the principal and asked to teach for three months in Spanish, then in English. Her experiment worked, and the next year, she team-taught with another teacher. Requena taught only in Spanish, the other teacher in English.

"I try to get the best from the United States, and try to keep the best from my country, and try to share the best from my country with my students," she said.