Pre-K Dual Language Programs Will Double Next Year

New York City public schools will offer twice as many pre-kindergarten dual language programs starting this fall. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña called the expansion a “personal mission.”

“It is important to understand that immigrants and people who speak a second language are an asset,” she said at P.S. 20, a school in the Lower East Side that will add a pre-k Spanish dual language program to its current pre-k Mandarin offering.

Fariña nodded her head to the beat as pre-k students sang a song and greeted one another in Mandarin. Afterward, she told reporters, “This is not just about a language, it’s also about a culture.”

Fariña said dual language programs are generally created in response to community demand. That’s why Bengali and Russian will be introduced next year; Mandarin, Spanish and Italian are already offered. Older students can enroll in programs for several other languages, including Urdu or Arabic.

For some parents, the dual language program is an opportunity for children to learn a language that isn’t spoken at home. For others, it’s about staying connected to family heritage.

“I have two older children and even though I’ve spoken to them in Spanish since birth, they’ve never really picked up the language,” said Cousette Rivera, whose kids are now 19, 14 and 5. “When I spoke to them in Spanish, they said, ‘Mommy, can you please say that in English? No one speaks Spanish in school.’ That was hurtful to me.”

Rivera enrolled her daughter Jera-Emma Rivera-Rodriguez, a kindergartner, in the Spanish dual language program at P.S. 20. Even just one year in, Rivera said Jera-Emma already speaks better Spanish better than her siblings. “I’ve seen her using more Spanish at home because of it,” Rivera said.