"As she maintained her native language and learned English as a second language, you could see her confidence increase," says
Alba-Gonzalez, who completed her undergraduate and teaching credential
at California State University, Long Beach.
Later, as a fifth-grader performing in the school's talent show, Georgina was the only student who danced and sang in Spanish. "It was
refreshing to see she was confident enough to express herself creatively
in her native language, yet she was successfully learning a second
language," says Alba-Gonzalez.
By the time she graduated from high school, Georgina was both bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish. She went on to earn a
bilingual teaching credential from CSU Long Beach and now teaches in an
elementary school dual-language immersion program like the one where she
began her own education.Every one of California's 1.4 million P-12
English-language learner (EL or ELL) children must travel a road
something like Georgina's in order to achieve academic success. How well
they do depends a lot on the guidance of skilled teachers. Given that
the California State University prepares more than half of the state's
teachers, CSU schools of education play a critical role in equipping
California's educators with the expertise they need to help their EL
students.
"Teachers from the CSU's credentialing programs are better equipped today to meet the needs of English learners because there are more known
strategies and better research on how to service ELs, and programs are
looking to enhance their offerings," explains Fred Uy, Ph.D., director
of Educator Preparation and Public School Programs at the CSU Office of
the Chancellor.
All CSU teacher credential programs prepare candidates in what's called Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD). But in
order for a teacher to instruct in a bilingual or dual-language
immersion classroom, he or she must be proficient in both English and
the non-English language they will be teaching.
What's more, they must obtain a bilingual authorization — called B-CLAD — which can be earned by examination or by completing a bilingual
program approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Currently 18 CSU campuses, representing a combined 13 different languages from Spanish to Armenian, offer bilingual teacher
certification program, including San Diego State University, which has a
dedicated department for its bilingual credential program, where it
offers six different languages for primary instruction.
