Jacob Oliva
Faculty from the University of Arkansas' World Language Education Program met with new Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva on February 21 to present their Spanish Roadmap report and guide the state's world language education agenda. We discussed opportunities for collaboration to move forward.
Attending the meeting was Freddie Bowles, professor of curriculum and instruction and current president of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association. Faculty members in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, including Professors Linda Jones, Raquel Castro Salas, and Luis Fernando Restrepo.
Mr. Oliva has previously held top education positions in Florida, including Interim Secretary of the Florida Department of Education, and has seen the positive results of dual language education and the International Baccalaureate program.
“Data from schools like Dreamers Academy (a dual language public charter school) in Sarasota, Florida, clearly supports the overall academic benefits of these programs,” Oliva said.
Professors Bowles and Restrepo participated in the successful establishment of the Arkansas Seal of Bilateral Knowledge, led by U of A lecturer Tina Howlett and representatives from the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program, and the Arkansas Department of Education. said. of education. Since 2018, the Seal has awarded certificates to nearly 5,000 students at 100 high schools across the state, assessing their proficiency in English and 24 other languages.
Professor Castro Salas, co-director of Sin Limites, a bi-disciplinary service-learning program for beginning-level Spanish speakers, emphasized the importance of beginning language programs at the beginning level. In October 2023, world language professors Restrepo, Castro Salas, and Magnetti published a bilingual report. Arkansas is part of a community of 500 million people. Build Spanish language teaching capacity across the state; Funded by the Chancellor's Humanities and Performing Arts Grant.
The group is For this The committee will work with the Arkansas Department of Education to gather information needed to start a dual language program in Arkansas. He said there are nearly 5,000 dual language programs across the country, but there are currently none in Arkansas. The promising news is that Act 663 of 2021 will allow schools in Arkansas to implement such programs.
For more information about establishing a bilingual ad hoc committee, please contact Professor Freddie Bowles (fbowles@uark.edu) or Luis Fernando Restrepo (lrestr@uark.edu).
