William Cullen Bryant High School
May 7, 2018 By Tara Law
New bilingual programs teaching Chinese, Spanish and other languages will be launched at 14 Queens schools this fall, Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced Thursday.
The Schools Chancellor said that the city plans to spend approximately $1.2 million to open 48 new Transitional Bilingual Education and Dual Language programs at schools this fall.
The goal of both programs is to encourage children to simultaneously strengthen their proficiency in English and another language. Schools receive an average grant of $25,000 to open a new program.
In the last four years, the school system has opened or expanded 200 bilingual programs. The programs are for both non-English speaking immigrants and children born into English-speaking households looking to learn another language.
The schools were chosen based on the demographics in each school district.
William Cullen Bryant High School at 48-10 31st Ave. in Long Island City will start a Transitional Bilingual Education program in Bengali in the fall. The Transitional Bilingual programs primarily target non-English speaking immigrants. These programs provide children with instruction in both English and another language, although the amount of instruction in the foreign language is gradually phased out.
All of the other programs opening in Queens are Dual Language programs. These programs are for both native English speakers and non-English speaking children.
The Dual Language classes tend to enroll approximately half native English speakers and half foreign language speakers, who learn together in the same classroom setting. The students receive instruction in both English and another language and become proficient in reading, writing and speaking both languages.
In Flushing, a Chinese Dual Language program will be started at PS 13 Clement C. Moore at 55-01 94th St. A Spanish program will begin at PS 22 Thomas Jefferson, which is located at 153-33 Sanford Ave.
Spanish Dual Language programs will also be started at P.S./I.S. 268 at 92-07 175th St in Jamaica; P.S. 92 The Harry T. Stewart Sr School North Corona 99-01 34th Ave.; P.S. 330 at 110-08 Northern Blvd. in North Corona; P.S. 148 at 89-02 32nd Ave. in East Elmhurst; and P.S. 384 at 27-35 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City.
Chancellor Carranza announced the expansion at Manhattan’s P.S 1, which is located in Chinatown.
“Every family in our City, including immigrant families and undocumented students, deserves a high-quality education, and language should never be a barrier to equal access,” Carranza said. “When I started Kindergarten, I only spoke Spanish and my parents trusted public schools to teach me English—- I want to make sure every English Language Learner in New York City has the same experience I did growing up.”
Bitta Mostofi, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, said that it is important for the city to take advantage of its linguistic diversity.
“Institutionalizing our strengths through expanding bilingual learning programs in our schools will provide our English Language Learners with an even better education as well as help preserve NYC’s multicultural spirit,” said Mostofi.
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11 Comments
I em com here frum Germany an I came hear and lerned einklish
Your here in this country you should be speaking English just like every immigrant before the government decided to make everything easy.
Unanimous –
Just so you know it’s ” you’re ” ( you are ) not your
Maybe you also need to learn English
Learn English first… and letthem teach the immigrants that apply for citizenship to know English, cause they sure don’t know much English seeing all the information in every language when one votes. I thought knowing English was a requirement to be a citizen. One must be a citizen to vote right…
Tree- In English it’s “One must be a citizen to vote righ? ” With a question mark. Is English your first language? I bet it is, shame on you. Take an English class, take some pride in yourself.
Tommy, once again your argument is someone’s intelligence to make your point. Here is some of your medicine . Righ is smelled right you pathetic piece of s_ __
Tree- I can “smell” you from here. You’re such a hater.
Tommy…Just because you have one doesn’t mean you need to act like one.
8055 Cornish ave is not ps13 it’s ps7
how about “English” first and foremost
Yes, English is important to prioritize being that it functions as an official language of sorts in this country. However, society, specifically with business, is getting more globalized every day and it will set students up for more success if they learn two languages.