Theater also encourages parents to enroll in English adult education courses so they can understand the plays that keep their children off the streets. The school still sometimes loses students to the streets. Both were expelled. As Catholic schools attract the attention and interest of educators, they also provide a laboratory for language instruction, the issue that has captivated California public schools this year in the debate over bilingual education. There are no comprehensive figures, but Teegarden said many Latino and Asian immigrant children start Catholic kindergarten speaking no English.
Teachers find ways to help the kids understand.
Children, especially in the primary grades, seem to acquire the language quite readily. As many as five of the 35 incoming St. Thomas kindergartners spoke no English in the early 1990s. Most students speak Spanish at home, and the language echoes throughout the school's hallways, offices and playground. When Roberto Lopez entered first grade at Dolores Mission in January, he spoke no English and his teacher, Rosemary Powell, spoke no Spanish. But nobody relegated the inquisitive little boy to the dummy track.