Edgar Lampkin, the CEO of the California Association of Bilingual Education, speaks at Fahari L. Jeffers Elementary School in Chula Vista on Thursday, June 27, 2024.
Education officials from San Diego and Mexico said Thursday that they want to work together to support the region's binational students., they face several challenges. Fabiola Bagula, deputy superintendent for the San Diego Unified School District, said one of the biggest is language. “One of the things I’ve learned now, in speaking to the deputy secretary of Baja California, is that when our students for some reason have to move back to Mexico, they actually don’t speak Spanish,” she said. “There are tens of thousands of students that are American-born citizens that go back to Mexico and actually don’t attend school because of the language differences.”
Edgar Lampkin, CEO of the California Association of Bilingual Education, said more dual language immersion programs could help bilingual students keep their language skills strong. He said 40% of California’s K-12 students are English language learners. “Even though we have the largest number of English learners in California, compared to the rest of the United States, we are behind when it comes to the number of English learners that are in dual-immersion programs,” he said."Our students in California ... deserve to have teachers who represent them, speak the language, understand the culture," said Jason Hammond Garcia, CEO of the International Alliance Group, which facilitates an international teacher exchange program.