Page 7 - Mid Valley Times 1-16-20 E-edition

The View From Here
Before speaking to Jose Guz- man, I knew nothing about what a “dual immersion” program was, or how it was going to benefit lo- cal students.
Juanita Adame
By Juanita Adame
The Mid Valley Times
It’s an initiative that Jose Guzman, the Administrator of Educational Programs for Kings Canyon Unified School District calls “a tremendous gift” to local students.
“A dual immersion pro- gram teaches literacy in both the English and Spanish lan- guages concurrently,” said Guzman on the morning of Jan. 13. “However, it’s a dif- ferent percentage for each grade.”
Guzman said the district is hoping to launch the dual im- mersion program in August of 2020, a first for Reedley schools.
“There are not very many programs like this in our area, Fresno Unified being the ex- ception, they have fourteen
Jose and I met on the morning of Jan. 13, and he explained what the program entails and why its so impor- tant to our community.
“The goal of a dual im- mersion program is to have both, we want to achieve bil- iteracy,” he told me.
“Our state has a lot of ex- pectations around the seal of biliteracy so, students who go through a program like this have a great jumpstart on getting that seal and be- ing fluent in both English and Spanish.”
Jose kept using the word “biliteracy” and I had to stop him during our interview to ask exactly how that differed from bilingual.
“Being fluent, and being able to read, write, and speak in two languages,” he said.
I have always thought of myself as “bilingual.” I even took pride in the fact that I can speak Spanish fairly well.
It wasn’t until my run in with Spanish television news that I realized that title didn’t fit me as well as I thought.
It was the summer of 2014. I was working as a news reporter in Texas for the NBC Affiliate, KRBC News.
One day my then news di- rector came in and said, “We are starting a Spanish lan- guage newscast, who in here can speak Spanish?” I raised my hand thinking nothing of it.
“Juanita, you got it, you will anchor a daily Spanish newscast, and will have a producer to help you.”
Again, I thought nothing of it, I mean, I have spoken Spanish my entire life, how hard could it be?
I was working alongside a good friend of mine and together we began to put a newscasttogether. Iquickly and painfully realized that my idea of Spanish and for- mal Spanish were two com- pletely different things.
SEE COLUMN on page A10
Photo Contributed
A banner in both English and Spanish languages is posted in front of Jefferson Elementary School in Reedley. The Dual Immersion program is set to begin in the Fall of 2020.
KCUSD to start Dual Immersion program
programs over there and we would like to get one started here,”hesaid. “Therearetre- mendous benefits being that
we are a community that has a high Latino population.”
Adualimmersionprogram is targeted at giving instruc-
tion in two languages. According to rang.org,
See KCUSD on page A10
K-9 from Fresno County Sheriff's Office visits Sanger school
Staff Report
Robert Cerda, a Fresno County Sheriff's Deputy visited Jackson Elementa- ry School in Sanger on the morning of Jan. 13. Joining him was his partner, K-9 Targo.
Deputy Cerda was on campus to explain the de- partment's operations and how it works to keep the community safe.
Third graders at the school are currently read- ing a book called "Aero and Officer Mike," the book de- tails the journey between a police officer and his K-9 partner.
Photo Courtesy Fresno County Sheriff's Office
ABOVE: Deputy Robert Cerda spoke to third grade students at Jack- son Elementary in Sanger.
RIGHT: The Deputy talked about operations within the department.
Dinuba Chamber Awards to be held Jan. 31
Staff Report
The Dinuba Chamber of Commerce will be hav- ing their annual Chamber Awards banquet on Jan. 31.
The event will be held at the Memorial Building on South Alta Avenue. This years nominees include Ma- ria Rocca for Junior Citizen, Steve Worthley for Senior Citizen. Dinuba Chiropractic for Small Business Category and Tulare Kings Youth for Christ for the Large Busi- ness Category.
For more information contact (559) 591-2707. Tick-
Photo Courtesy Dinuba Chiropractic
Dr. Roderick Sorenson's prac- tice was nominated as this years Small Business Category.
ets are on sale now and there will be no tickets sold at the door.
Annual Borscht Supper to be held in Reedley
Contributed
The annual Borscht Supper will be held on Jan. 22 starting at 5:30 p.m. The event is held to support mission network partner Mary Raber. Donations will be accepted at the door, there will also be home made bread and pie available. The event will be held at the Reedley First Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall. The church is located on L Street between 12th and 13th Streets.
05564