Using a lot of pictures and gestures to build vocabulary, Rainwater began teaching the girl. It's difficult, because you can't communicate with them, especially when you have 20 of them. Still, Rainwater wouldn't dream of teaching the students to read first in their native languages, even if she knew them. It just doesn't make sense if the goal is to make them fluent in English, she said. Fort Worth's bilingual classes aim to make students proficient in English within three years and academically fluent within six years.
Experts say it takes five to seven years to master a second language.
It seeks to use a student's native language, in Fort Worth's case Spanish, as a bridge to learning English, while teaching material appropriate for the grade. It is the approach endorsed by U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley and the state of Texas, and the most common approach in the country. But some national experts say it is the least effective model and that providing students more time in their native language produces better long-term academic results. Houston, El Paso, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Jose, Calif., and 200 other districts even have programs that aim to graduate fully bilingual students. The thrust has largely come from the cities' business communities.