Bilingual education in the First State

Delaware Public Media’s Anne Hoffman sat down with Andrea Flores, a bilingual first grade teacher, to talk about education’s changing landscape in Delaware. Education is the theme of Thursday’s second annual Delaware Latino Summit. Specifically, the summit is focusing on training more First State teachers to be culturally competent. Andrea Flores is an example of what that could look like. Flores is bilingual and teaches first grade, entirely in Spanish, at La Academia Antonia Alonso Charter School. “When you’re younger, it’s easier to learn a language,” she said. “You’re more open to it. Your walls are not up, and you are open to the idea, and it’s exciting, it’s fun.” Flores is the kind of teacher Delaware’s officials, like Gov. Jack Markell, and Latino leaders, such as Hispanic Commission co-chair Javier Torrijo, want to attract. She’s bilingual and a first-generation American whose family came from Mexico. Link: http://delawarepublic.org/