BOCA BETH: One Song at a Time

It was a wintry day in Orlando, Florida this Wednesday! Brrrrrr! All of us Floridians just shivered and looked at one another like “Are we in Mickey Land anymore?!?!?!”

It was hysterical as we had to move our training venue from a beautiful outdoor park into a tiny cafeteria room that comfortably holds 40 people (maybe 50 tops!). I was the first trainer on with the task at hand to welcome back the staff of Head Start classrooms in the Orlando area and motivate them … this after being told to make a U-turn at the Park and head back down the road to their 4c building, find a parking space (that in itself would put Mickey Mouse in a foul mood!!!), try to catch the elevator up to the third floor (mind you this elevator is acting like it’s on strike due to the cold temperatures!!!), and find a place to sit in this over-crowded training room (Go ahead! Sit on your amiga’s lap - she won’t mind!)

You know what though? Once we got started (45 minutes late!), I had them up dancin’, singing, laughing and playing in spite of the rocky start. We talked about why, with more than 45 million people in our country alone who speak Spanish as their native language, we should begin to introduce Spanish and English to the children in Head Start classrooms on a regular, daily basis! I made certain they understood that if they take the time to think beyond their current daily routine and begin to include some bilingual fun - be it a Boca Beth song, a game from our newsletter suggestions, a coloring page that shows the numbers and the words for the numbers in English and Spanish - they can help develop early readers and children who will score higher on standardized test scores!

There is a reason the SAT College Board states that students taking the SAT who have had two or more years of foreign language instruction perform better by far on this College Entrance Exam than monolingual students. It’s time our teachers, our care providers and those who are responsible for the future of our youth become educated on this very importanct facet of a child’s early development.

We CAN make a difference with literacy skills, math problem solving capabilities and advanced cognitive development by simply implementing the fun and easy-to-use tools, tips and techniques I have put together over the past five years and perfected with the input of children and teachers and parents.

Why do I see it all so clearly and yet I still have to beg my local school district to just give our Boca Beth Program a try? The Kindergarten teachers who use our Boca Beth fun songs swear by the ease of use and the astounding learning going on … and all that with no lesson plan, no script written on what to say and how to say it … it’s all been through the pure joy in our bilingual beats and the way I make it fun to bring Spanish to life in the classroom where English is the main language.

Kathy from Osceola School District stopped by the training this Wednesday morning, and she loved what she saw in my passion and energy as well as liking the stats on how this early second language learning can make a difference in the future of our youth.

Come on people! I read the press releases on dual language programs, the blogs about how will they fund such a program in certain school districts, or the special staff needed to launch an immersion program in another city. The reality is, the funding is not there across the board and we need to find a solution that is affordable to implement nation wide and practical to use on a daily basis (one of the keys to success in learning for children) whether the teacher is English-speaking or Spanish-speaking!

Get me off my soap box please as the answer is as clear as day to me! The Boca Beth Program can and will make the difference some day soon in our country!

Happy Educating! ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth