Cage Elementary seems like a typical school from the outside. Situated in the East End, north of UH, it is a modest group of one-story buildings, a maze of brick and brightly colored doors, surrounded by a few acres of playing fields. The student body is almost entirely Hispanic. Many of them walk to school. Most of them are poor the children of immigrants who left their home countries in search of a better life in the United States.
Cage provides an interesting opportunity for educators.
The school s bilingual program takes pre-K children, most of whom speak only Spanish, and, if all goes well, has them comparatively fluent in both English and Spanish by the end of fifth grade. For many of them, it is their main meal if not their only meal of the day. As one might expect, there is the constant high din of pre-adolescent shouting and laughter. Martha Garcia, Rodriguez s supervising teacher, is already there, lining the class against the wall. Two children remain behind, briefly, to sponge off the table.