{"id":33704,"date":"2021-01-14T04:15:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T10:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33704"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:12:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:12:27","slug":"wahzhazhe-tsalagi-espanol-no-matter-the-language-covid-creates-challenges-for-immersion-learning-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/01\/14\/wahzhazhe-tsalagi-espanol-no-matter-the-language-covid-creates-challenges-for-immersion-learning-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"WahZhaZhe, Tsalagi, Espa\u00f1ol. No matter the language, Covid creates challenges for immersion learning in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/2feb9dd0-5b3f-4447-9108-ae48c8a743e6\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><em>Clarification: An earlier version of this story said Tulsa Public Schools has three immersion elementary schools. There are two immersion elementary schools with three programs. Eisenhower Elementary School teaches both Spanish and French and Zarrow Elementary School teaches Spanish.<\/em><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In normal circumstances, foreign language immersion instruction requires some classroom creativity to make it work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That may mean developing worksheets or curriculum in-house, bringing in multiple guest speakers or figuring out the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/pjfDrfghwqU?t=73\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">closest equivalent to \u201cshark<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d in a language originally spoken thousands of miles from the nearest ocean in order to sing the popular kids\u2019 song \u201cBaby Shark\u201d in Osage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, in the era of Covid-19 and distance learning, it is a whole new ballgame.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Located in Pawhuska, Daposka Ahnkodapi is the Osage Nation\u2019s immersion school. It runs through fourth grade and has about 40 students enrolled.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The small private school started the year with in-person instruction, but like other schools around Oklahoma, had to pivot to distance learning more than once during the fall semester thanks to Covid-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt&#8217;s the same as all the other schools,\u201d headmaster Patrick Martin said. \u201cI mean we&#8217;re just trying to do it in person preferably and then online when we have to.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When classes are held in person, the Osage translations of \u201cwash your hands\u201d and other key preventative instructions are incorporated into the daily classroom routine. When the school has had to switch to distance learning, those instructions and lessons are getting worked into socially distanced home visits, Zoom calls, web-based apps, online trivia games and word games.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles Duty is a second grader at Daposka Ahnkodapi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was kinda different,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not used to going online. I liked it though.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the school has had to make the sudden switch to distance learning, the Duty family has tried to supplement language instruction by including Osage words and prayers at home, but as Shannon Shaw Duty, Charles\u2019 mother, pointed out, it is not quite the same. Like many other immersion school parents across Oklahoma, she is not fluent in the language her child is studying.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe hardest has been having to pivot on a dime,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to stay home from work. It&#8217;s hard to work from home and at the same time be their teacher. I can\u2019t just leave them all alone. I do have to sit down with them, monitor and sometimes explain what they need to do. That takes away from my work day.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To the east, the state\u2019s oldest Indigenous language charter school is facing similar challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to the pandemic, the Cherokee Nation\u2019s immersion school in Tahlequah has not had in-person classes since March.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curtis Washington has been at the school for 11 years in several different roles. In a normal year, his 10 sixth grade students would have half of their coursework in Cherokee and half in English to help them prepare for secondary school in a non-immersion setting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While in distance learning, the students are still getting regular assignments, including spelling words and written translation projects in Cherokee. However, rather than build and expand those language skills, it\u2019s been more of a focus on maintaining them until the students are able to be back in-person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington said he keeps his Zoom room open during the day in case students need to pop in with questions or to work with them on pronunciation, but participation has been minimal at best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think some of them aren\u2019t even looking at their syllabary until I see them on Zoom,\u201d he said. \u201cI hate saying that but there are some kids like that. I take it as it comes, though. If that\u2019s the best they can do right now, then that\u2019s the best they can do.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indigenous language students are not the only ones having to think outside the box when it comes to bolstering their skills while staying safe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state\u2019s second largest school district, Tulsa Public Schools, has 10 multi-language sites, including two immersion elementary schools. Combined, there are about 2,500 TPS students in multilingual classrooms with most learning either Spanish or French. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prior to Covid-19, Amelia Beam-Thompson was in the Spanish language immersion program at Tulsa\u2019s Zarrow Elementary. She still has a spot there, but with an immuno-compromised parent, she is doing fourth grade online this school year through Tulsa Virtual Academy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Duty, Beam-Thompson said it\u2019s been pretty different doing classes online this year. Instead of speaking and hearing Spanish all day at school, her language instruction is primarily condensed into a couple of hours, with her math and language arts classes conducted in English.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m pretty used to my teachers speaking more Spanish to me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her parents, Sara Beam and Brian Thompson, agreed that their daughter\u2019s education looks pretty different this year and has not been a full immersion experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, as they pointed out, distance learning has allowed their fourth grader to go at her own pace and when needed, step away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShe\u2019s getting a more concentrated dose of it (Spanish) in those two hours,\u201d Beam said. \u201cSo it seems like a fair enough trade.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><i>This COVID-19\/education reporting is made possible through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarification: An earlier version of this story said Tulsa Public Schools has three immersion elementary schools. There are two immersion elementary schools with three programs. Eisenhower Elementary School teaches both Spanish and French and Zarrow Elementary School teaches Spanish.In normal circumstances, foreign language immersion instruction requires some classroom creativity to make it work.\u00a0That may mean [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":33702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33704"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34093,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33704\/revisions\/34093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}