Each student, therefore, was actively learning a second language, since half the day was taught in Spanish and the other half in English. When I began work at Key, I found that even in Arlington, a politically liberal community where Democrats sweep the polls at every election, there still exist many lingering stereotypes about Hispanic children. Well, yes, but if you were taking the SAT in Norwegian, your scores wouldn't be all that hot either. Low test scores for immigrant students of any background almost always mean that they haven't mastered English, not that they are inherently stupid. And let's face it, learning English, which has the largest word pool of any spoken language and grammar that defies explanation, is no easy task.
Many Hispanic students struggle for years to become completely fluent in English.
I knew that from growing up with Hispanic friends. What I discovered at Key was that many native English-speaking students have an equally difficult time learning Spanish. Some, in fact, were downright hopeless. Emily, whose first language is English, was unable to form a complete sentence in Spanish after two years of constant immersion in the language. Her best friend, Tara, also a native English speaker, spoke perfectly fluent Spanish after the same two years.