A View from Puerto Rico

For more than 13 years, Felicita Sanabria has worked in Head Start programs in Puerto Rico. She has been a Head Start/Early Head Start Education Coordinator with the New York Foundling (NYF) grantee in Puerto Rico for the last 7 years. She supervises eight Education Supervisors and three Mentor- Coaches who work with center-based and home-based programs. She also supervises the implementation of the curriculum, Niños y Niñas que Exploran y Construyen, written by a local educator, Dra. Angeles Molina (1996). It aligns with the Head Start Program Performance Standards. Felicita was interviewed by Bulletin staff.

Q: What is the program’s language policy about English as a second language?

The agency is promoting language development in the children’s home language — Spanish—and in English as a second language. Our language policy comes from the Head Start Program Performance Standards 1304.21(a)(1)(iii), which require that programs: “Provide an environment that supports and respects gender, culture, language, ethnicity and family composition.” This Standard encompasses our teaching beliefs that we demonstrate respect for the diverse backgrounds and languages that exist in our classrooms. It also supports our use of different strategies to sustain and expand the home language. We also know that the Child Outcomes Framework mandates that children will show progress in learning English, so this is one of our goals.

Our agency is committed to Program Performance Standard 1304.52 g (2): “When a majority of children speak the same language, at least one classroom staff member or home visitor interacting with the children must speak their language.” We have a well-defined process of staff recruitment and training. NYF hires early childhood and bilingual teachers (Spanish-English) to promote our preschoolers’ language and literacy development in Spanish and their acquisition of the English language in developmentally appropriate ways. We train teachers who are not fully bilingual in strategies for teaching English as a second language.

Our goal is to support our children to be successful communicators in kindergarten. Children in public school in Puerto Rico begin learning English formally in first grade.

Q: What are some of the strategies the program uses to encourage English language learning?

As teachers, we have to respect the children’s home language and teach basic language skills and expose children to other languages. In our Head Start program in Puerto Rico, teaching English as a second language is believed to be appropriate if it relies on practices such as singing songs, playing games, and telling stories.

We use some very specific songs that are presented in both languages. One song that we include in our curriculum, Pollitos-Chicken, was adapted by Mrs. Ramonita Auger (a Head Start teacher in Puerto Rico). The song starts with “pollitos-chicken, gallina-hen, lapiz-pencil, pluma-pen, ventana-window, puerta-door, maestro-teacher, piso-floor,” sung to a familiar tune (see box on right). We also add about 20 different key words to the song, including concepts of family members and objects in the classroom. Some other songs in English the children learn are, “The Wheels of the Bus,” and “If You Are Happy and You Know It.”

When I visit the classrooms, I see children singing songs in English and Spanish while others are listening to tapes or looking at one of the bilingual books. We also have labels around the room in Spanish and English. The children learn some greeting words (like “ good morning,” “hello,” “sit down,” and “come in”), color names and number words. Children in Puerto Rico are exposed to the English language in their daily routine when they watch TV at home and visit restaurants like McDonalds or Burger King.

Q: How do you measure progress in English?

We have a system of ongoing assessment. For example, we observe the child in a normal routine and prepare a portfolio of our observations, record the child’s voice in song, and assess each child’s individual progress. We then discuss the portfolio with the parents three times per year. The children are showing progress in listening to and understanding English as well as in speaking English.

Q: How do you include parents in their child’s language development?

We coordinate Early Learning Specialists and Mentors in all the centers to work as an Early Literacy team with the family. The parents want their children to learn to read and write in Spanish first and, when they are ready, learn English. They are informed at the Head Start orientation that English will be taught in a natural and informal way. Parents are provided English language learning activities to participate in with their children. For example, they can use the English labels on food items to help teach the alphabet.

Q: How do you, as the Education Coordinator, support the educational staff to promote language and literacy development?

Professional development is conducted in Spanish. Although our program does not offer specific teacher training in bilingualism, we do support those teachers who are not fully bilingual by teaching them instructional strategies, including songs and games in English. We try to put one bilingual teacher in each center to support the other staff.

Q: What challenges does the program encounter implementing its language policy?

We have adjusted our program in line with the Child Outcomes Framework. We are just now gaining a grasp of teaching English as a second language. At first, teachers were anxious about the mandated indicators, but now teachers see them as a new challenge and as an opportunity for the children. We also have tried to increase our teachers’ salaries because we want to keep our best teachers to implement our language policy.

Felicita Sanabria is the Education Coordinator with New York Foundling Head Start in Puerto Rico. T: 787-753-9082