The Priority program and the regular curriculum at Heritage may have different immediate goals, but both will benefit children whose first or only language is something other than English. The graduate students' training in ESL is not finished once they complete the ESL class. Rather, effective methods of teaching language-minority students will be a recurring theme and a very substantial part of their education at Heritage, Jaini says. But the issue goes much deeper than vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax, according to Dr. Pat Whitfield, dean of the division of education and psychology at Heritage. The opportunity to read and write in their own language is what will enable them to excel later on.
Every child has a culture that has worth.
If a child's frame of reference is not the same as ours, we have to recognize what that frame of reference is. Heritage has grown quickly, a fact that speaks to the ongoing needs of the communities it serves. Rousculp and Watkins would like to see the Priority program continue and certify another group of bilingual teachers. But for that to happen, a new base source of funding would have to be identified. Despite the continued need, Rousculp wants to be sure that by the time work is begun on funding another group of students, there will be a large and highly qualified pool of parapros to recruit.