Bilingual Students Buddy Up In Program At Suburban School
MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. (CBS) -- Buddying up for better results: that's the strategy at one very diverse school in Mount Prospect, reports CBS 2's Sandra Torres.
Every Wednesday morning, students partner up at Robert Frost Elementary School in District 59.
It's a unique opportunity for fifth graders like Deeya Rawata and kindergartners like Daniel Ramirez Arredondo to learn from each other through the "buddies" program.
"We usually help them make projects and we help them read and write," Rawata said.
Most of the students are bilingual.
"At any given point I may have six, seven, eight different languages that my kids speak at home," said teacher Julia Victor. "This could be Spanish, it could be Polish, Albanian."
English is their second language.
"Sometimes you get confused and when you get confused it's hard to pick which word is better in Spanish or English," said Arredondo.
That's why teachers Colleen Briggs and Julia Victor started implementing the program to strengthen their literacy and writing skills.
"When they are with their buddies, that's really an opportunity for them to just practice speaking," Briggs said.
But most importantly, to improve their confidence for years to come.
"What I have seen in my students is this leadership that I'm convinced they didn't even know was inside of them," Victor said.
The students are now even working together on a service project to benefit their community, raising funds to buy books for a local children's hospital.
All of the classrooms at Robert Frost Elementary School are now implementing the program.