SPEAKING LANGUAGE OF SUCCESS; SCHOOLS' IMMERSION PROGRAM COULD BE MODEL FOR NEW ERA.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Ten-year-olds An Hoang and Sue Song are in the vanguard of the post-bilingual education revolution in California.

An spoke only Vietnamese when she entered the Conejo Valley Unified School District's English-only program three years ago at Glenwood Elementary School. Sue spoke mostly Korean when she arrived at Glenwood last year.

Yet as the school year ends, the girls have left behind their limited English proficiency classifications and speak their adopted language fluently.

Three years is what it takes for most LEP students to become fluent English speakers in the Conejo Valley, which operates an English-only program under an exemption from the state's bilingual education law. The 1,370 youngsters from 38 language backgrounds who started the school year as LEP students took standardized tests in English, with elementary students collectively scoring in the 53rd percentile nationally.

It's been that way every year of the 15-year-old program, which assigns LEP students to mainstream courses and provides them with part-time aides who focus on language development while making sure the kids understand their math, science and social study lessons.

``My first day of school, it was really difficult. I wanted to speak my old language, but then the teacher did not speak (it) and no one else did,'' said An, whose two older brothers are also honor students in the Conejo district.

Added Sue, ``I still speak Korean at home with my parents, but now I'm reading more books in English, and I speak in English with all my friends.''

The results of Conejo Valley's program are a far cry from those achieved in traditional bilingual programs. Statewide, about 6 percent of students in bilingual education are mainstreamed each year. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, just over 8 percent. And in one LAUSD sample group, only 61 percent of bilingual students had learned enough English to take a standardized test in English, even after five years of instruction.

At Glenwood's multicultural end-of-the-year party last week in the school's language resource center, kids from around the world sat together, busily stringing colorful beads into necklaces and bracelets to take home as souvenirs.

In one of the most diverse school districts in Ventura County, administrators decided years ago that they could not afford to provide bilingual instruction in the primary languages of all students.

So they opted for an English-only immersion program in which language aides work with small groups of students to make sure they can function on their own, administrators said.

``Our goal is to make sure all our students have a fair chance at getting equal access to education here,'' said Richard Simpson, assistant superintendent of instructional services.

``They are going to have to learn the English language to succeed, but we want to provide them with some back-up support in their primary languages to make sure they are on track,'' he said.

Following the passage this spring of Proposition 227, which dismantles bilingual programs, school districts across the state may begin looking at Conejo schools as a model for helping students learn English.

``This kind of program will probably be the kind to survive after the Unz initiative and may become the norm,'' said Fred Tempes, director of the state Education Department's School and District Accountability Division.

Making English-only work

For more than a decade, the Conejo district has been granted an annual exemption from state law that mandates LEP program staffing and primary language instruction. For each of those years, Conejo LEP students' test scores rank on the average at or above the 50th national percentile.

Additionally, all LEP students are redesignated as fully fluent English speakers within three years, district officials said.

``It is very overwhelming for these kids at the beginning, so we try to make this a place where they can feel confident and take risks as far as speaking goes. No one can laugh or make fun of them here because everyone is in the same boat.

At Conejo Elementary School, one of 26 district schools where the program is in place, teacher Janice Hague said she works closely with the aides to tailor language exercises and reading drills to each student.

Most of Hague's students speak Spanish at home, so she and her aide frequently break the class up into small groups to review vocabulary words and the math lessons taught in English.

``I conduct the class in English. The only time I will use Spanish is if I think a child is completely lost and needs some help so he or she can catch up,'' said Hague, who is not a native Spanish-speaker.

The district's 32 specialized language staff members speak a host of languages - including Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Farsi and Russian - but primarily use English with the kids. However, they use their foreign-language skills to communicate with parents - whose involvement and awareness is crucial to the program's success, said facilitator Sharon Graham, who has been with the district for nine years.

Parents reinforce lessons

``We work very hard on the parent level to encourage English use in the home. And we try to build a strong support system among the parents through regular meetings with them and an annual Family Fun night,'' Graham said.

Parent Norma Virgen said she worried that 7-year-old Nestor would fall behind when she enrolled him in the first grade last year. Since then, she has watched as his vocabulary - and his confidence - in his second language have grown.

``We did not speak one word in English, but he has done so well,'' said Virgen, whose family moved from Mexico two years ago. ``I am so proud of him - that he does well in math and that he has learned to use a computer.

``And as I am trying to learn English, too, he helps me translate and understand,'' she said.

For Nestor, school couldn't be more fun. Speaking with barely a trace of an accent and only an occasional pause to search for the right word, he said he has made many friends and learned about many subjects with the help of Bolanos and his second-grade teacher.

``Sometimes, the teacher would say the words in English, and if I did not understand she would say them in Spanish for me. But now I know most of the words in English,'' he said.

For An Hoang's father, her progress over the past year has been almost startling. He said he has struggled for years to learn English; for her nimble mind, it has come so quickly.

``We came to this country and have to start over. So we learn step by step. I am very happy with the schools and very thankful,'' he said.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Chau Hoang, center, and his wife, Thi, of Thousand Oaks are proud of their children, from left, Tung, An, and Anh, who have excelled in English.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

(2 -- ran in Simi and Conejo editions only) Hector Virgen, left, and his wife, Norma, have seen Nestor's confidence grow.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

(3 -- ran in Simi and Conejo editions only) Instructor Sara Bolanos helps a student fasten a necklace at a multicultural end-of-the-year party last week at Glenwood Elementary School in Thousand Oaks.

Evan Yee/Daily News