LOWER EAST SIDE — The Department of Education will expand its bilingual programs to 38 schools across the city in September while stepping up efforts to recruit teachers for the classes, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said Monday.
The department will dedicate roughly $1 million to implementing the new programs in an effort to better educate students not proficient in English while also offering English-proficient students the opportunity to learn a second language, Farina announced at the High School for Dual Language in Asian Studies in the Lower East Side, which currently offers Chinese dual language courses.
“In a city like New York, speaking two languages is a gift, it’s a pleasure, it’s something that’s going to make you a lot more employable,” Fariña said. “But more importantly, it’s going to make you a citizen of the world and not just of the city.”
The new programs — implemented in 27 elementary schools, seven middle schools, and four high schools — will offer dual language courses in Chinese, French, Haitian-Creole, Arabic, Polish and Spanish.
The programs allow English language learners to better master both the course’s subject material while also becoming more proficient English speakers, said Fariña, who stopped by an AP Chemistry course that is taught in both Mandarin and English to hear from students who have benefited from the approach.
One student, already fluent in Spanish and English, chose the High School for Dual Language in Asian Studies in order to master a third language.
“I have found through this process the skills that I have gained are not only the language, which allows me to reach out to more people, but the courage to face challenges,” said 16-year-old Thalia Baeza-Milan, who has been learning Mandarin for the past three years.
But some schools, such as the Lower East side’s P.S. 20, have struggled to recruit certified foreign language teachers to fill the slots in the program — a problem Farina says the DOE is attempting to tackle from multiple angles.
Department reps are meeting with city universities to discuss efforts to graduate more certified language teachers, while also considering implementing programs for prospective teachers as early as high school to encourage more bilingual students to become certified, said Farina.
Meanwhile, the DOE will also meet with state education officials to request that it initiate a reciprocal licensing agreement that would allow certified teachers from states that have an abundance of teachers — such as Texas — to retain their licenses after moving to New York instead of undergoing the currently required re-licensing process.
“There is no one approach to this,” said Fariña. “It has to be multifaceted.”