What Is Most Important

I just finished reading the English translation of Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by Gabriel García Márquez. I had already read it in Spanish. I was reminded of a comment made by Dale Rees when he worked in the district office for Salt Lake City. He was speaking of students reading The Diary of Anne Frank in Spanish--He said that 10 years from now students wouldn't remember whether they had read it in English or Spanish, only that they had read it.

Too often people (sadly, even some educators) equate intelligence and knowledge with speaking English. Although our committed goal at Esperanza is for all students to eventually become biliterate--listening, speaking, reading, and writing--in both English and Spanish I don't want us to ever forget that English and knowledge/intelligence are not synonyms. Hopefully that will help us all to not become overly concerned when a student, especially in the early grades, may be seeming to lag behind in English OR Spanish. Growing and learning isWhat what is most important, no matter what language. Once the language is learned the knowledge can be transferred.