First-grader Mayraleeh Nelson and third-grader Cory Cox both have dark almond eyes that gaze across their elementary school room searching for the right Spanish words to say. Brightly colored bulletin boards covering the walls give them clues. Although they live on opposite ends of Cleveland - and in many ways come from different worlds - they do have one thing in common: parents who want them to become fluent in both English and Spanish. What's brought them together is a program unique to the region. At Buhrer School on the city's west side, a small group of students have class subjects that are taught alternately in Spanish and English.
Mayraleeh's mother, Jessica Nelson, says about a year passed without much evidence her daughter was absorbing Spanish. But then, her fluency just took off.
Jessica Nelson: One day she just had a whole conservation with my grandfather, and I was just like whoa! And he was just so shocked because she sounded so proper. She sound better than me sometimes.
The Dual Language students at Buhrer School are evenly split between native English and Spanish speakers. In the program's first five years, it's expanded from kindergarten to fourth grade. Program Coordinator William Montoya says this type of teaching is nothing like foreign language classes or bilingual programs found in other schools.
William Montoya: Dual Language means when they leave here they're going to be bi-literate, bi-cultured in two languages and they're going to be able to read, write and speak.
The Dual Language programs in kindergarten, first and second grade each have two teachers who alternate teaching subjects Spanish and English. To adhere to Ohio law, only reading is taught to the students in their native language.
William Montoya: So one teacher might do literacy and science in Spanish, while the other teacher, which is usually the way it works, then the other teacher might do English literacy and social studies in English.
Montoya says when Mayraleeh reaches the third grade, she'll take certain classes in either one language or the other for the whole year. That's a bit scary because these students tend to see their grades slump at this point. Third-grader Cory Cox from Cleveland's east side remembers well what those first months of this school year were like.
Was it a little difficult at first?
Cory Cox: Yes.
What did it feel like?
Cory Cox: I'm in another city... (laughter)
But Cory isn't alone in that "new city." He's got a buddy who's fluent in Spanish to help him when he struggles to understand what's being said and vise-versa. Carmen Wildgoose, one of the teachers, says this peer tutoring makes all types of lessons "stick."
Carmen Wildgoose: When a child gets the opportunity to teach another child, that's really enforcing - reinforcing that child's knowledge. So by being a peer tutor, you are reinforcing what you know and you have to break that concept into terms that another child can understand. So it works for both people.
The Dual Language program at Buhrer School is the first one of its kind in Ohio and staff like William Montoya say it's a special asset to the city.
William Montoya: This is a jewel in Cleveland's crown. This is nothing different from the phenomenal School of the Arts - John Hay School of Medicine, Design and Architecture... To know that there is a school that will teach... children regardless of background, African-American, Arabic-Chinese, Latino, White...
Not everything has gone smoothly for the Dual Language program. Just under half of the original 65 students have left the school, mostly because their families moved from the neighborhood. District budget cuts and teacher layoffs took away some of the talent originally hired for the program. In addition, the federal grant of $1 million that has funded the program since its inception is set to expire in September. And Principal Janis Arnold says there's little chance they'll get a renewal.
Janis Arnold: But when I talk... with someone from Washington they said this year they are targeting this year some of the languages such as Arabic and Farcy or those that they think will really - they don't seem to stick with one particular language that they'll fund.
Arnold says without that or new sources of money, the program will loose a key staff member and be forced to scale back. But in the future she hopes the program will grow in strength and earn more district support, so that someday it can become a full-fledged, Dual Language School where students flock from all over the district to become bi-lingual citizens.
Lisa Ann Pinkerton, 90.3 News.