Ronald Salvador peered up at his teacher as she rattled off math equations.
“Four times two,” the teacher announced to the classroom.
“Eight times five.”
“Ocho por cinco,” Nelly Lynch, a teacher aide, repeated to the Salvador youth in Spanish as she wrote the equation on a dry erase board.
He paused.
“Cuarenta,” the 9-year-old said.
40.
The Salvador youth is one of hundreds of Hispanic children attending Toledo’s only bilingual school: Toledo SMART Bilingual Elementary, a K-5 charter school located in South Toledo.
WATCH: A closer look at Toledo SMART Bilingual
The school opened in 2014 to cater to Toledo’s Spanish-speaking community. According to 2017 U.S. Census Bureau data, 7 percent of Toledo’s population speaks a language other than English at home, with roughly half of those people speaking primarily Spanish.
The number of non-English speakers here appears to be rising, as data from 2010 — the last time a full census estimated occurred — suggests about only about 3 percent of the population spoke a language other than English just nine years ago.
“We definitely saw there was a need in the community,” Principal Jessica Molina said. “We have a large Spanish speaking community in Toledo, and they can’t always access the help that they need. So we wanted to be the school that was welcoming to them.”
Every student was Hispanic when Toledo SMART first opened five years ago. Since then, school enrollment has soared, and the student population has grown more diverse. The school now has 203 students, compared to 32 when it first opened, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
Today, 67 percent of Toledo SMART’s students are Hispanic, which is a higher rate than any school in Lucas County.
Toledo SMART is not a dual-language school where subjects are taught in two languages. Rather, the school has cultivated a bilingual culture. Students learn the traditional core subjects while also prioritizing the Spanish language. Students receive 40 minutes of Spanish every day.
Signs are posted throughout the school in both English and Spanish. Roughly half of the school’s teachers are bilingual, Ms. Molina said.
With a large Hispanic student population and some immigrants, there are several Spanish-speaking students still trying to learn English.
For nonnative English speakers, Toledo SMART has bilingual teacher aides to help those students overcome the language barrier. These aides translate from English to Spanish to help guide students through certain lessons.
“Their role is the direct instruction of the English language so working with students one-on-one or in small groups to teach them English,” Ms. Molina said. “And the bilingual aides will go into the classrooms with our Spanish monolingual students to help them understand the content.”
As a former English-as-a-second-language student, Ms.Lynch, a first-year aide at Toledo SMART, said she could empathize with students’ struggles.
“It’s really rewarding for me because I was an ESL student as well,” she said. “So for me to be able to give back and work with students of the same population that I grew up in it’s definitely rewarding for me because I wish I had that growing up.”
Several parents said they'd noticed a drastic improvement in their child’s ability to speak and comprehend both English and Spanish since attending Toledo SMART.
Veronica Cruz said her children did not understand English when they first enrolled in Toledo SMART. And in a few short years, not only are her children bilingual, but they’ve also improved their Spanish, she told The Blade through a translator.
Ericka Gutierrez said she was excited about her daughter attending a school that enhanced her chances of knowing two languages.
“I want my daughter to be bilingual like me,” she said.
The significance of Toledo SMART for many parents transcends the classroom often having a meaningful cultural impact, helping students remain connected to their cultural roots, Ms. Molina said.
“We want our students to hold their Spanish, grow their Spanish, while also learning English because we see the need of a child to have both languages when they’re older.”
First Published January 31, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
