Language Immersion Connects with Students

Letuka Mosia has a unique schedule.

Aside from the traditional math and science classes, the sixth-grader is learning Chinese, Spanish and Nahuatl, an indigenous language.

Learning languages comes easy and is one of the main reasons he’s excited about going to school at Semillas del Pueblo, Letuka said. “My teachers are relaxed and easy going. I like my school.”

That excitement is what will likely keep Letuka and his 499 classmates in school through high school graduation.  

Semillas del Pueblo, an internationally-minded and culturally relevant East Los Angeles charter school, teaches its predominately Latino students in four languages.

Marcos Aguilar, the school’s executive director and founder, said the school’s curriculum is rigorous and prepares students for college. Further, the school seeks to cultivate wise, community-engaged and internationally minded youth who can become leaders in their communities.

It’s the culturally relevant curriculum that is the school’s major asset. It helps the students, most of whom are Mexican or Mexican American, to not feel alienated like they have through curriculum offered at most public schools, Aguilar said.

“We want them to see their mother language as an asset rather than a disadvantage,” he said. “We provide an enriched educational experience. Our goal is to prepare them for life.”

And as excited as Letuka is to go to school, his mother, Valerie Hernandez, loves that she never has to force her son to go to school.

That balance of love and learning came under attack several years ago, starting with Los Angeles radio host Doug McIntyre’s comments about the school’s curriculum as racist and separatist. Then came a bomb threat and school evacuation. 

At the time, Letuka was in first grade.

“He didn’t understand why anybody was bashing the school that he loved so much,” Hernandez said. “It was very difficult for me to explain to him what was going on.”

Parents, teachers and administrators worried about the effect on the students.

“It terrorized our children,” said Aguilar. “But despite the financial, emotional challenges we were able to come back with a much stronger school.”

The K-12 school opened in 2002 using a bi-cultural, bilingual curriculum, recognized by the International Baccalaureate.

“The school is a call to action for educational equality and inclusion,” he said. “We wanted to provide equitable education.”

Aguilar filed a lawsuit against McIntyre and the radio station for defamation. In January 2009 an out-of-court agreement was reached.

Today, despite the controversy, bomb threat and court battles Semillas del Pueblo is stronger then ever, Aguilar said.

“Our case was to not allow slanderous jokes and comments to be dismissed as harmless,” he said. “Our students were able to rise above the hate thanks to our community support and the resilience demonstrated by parents and educators in our school.”

Hernandez describes Semillas del Pueblo as a great school for her son, who is half South African and Mexican, for several reasons. First, she wanted her son to have a culturally inclusive educational experience and he needed a school that was recognized internationally. Her son is planning to go to high school in South Africa, where his father lives.

“I liked the cultural aspect, languages and the indigenous curriculum,” she said. “I didn’t learn much about my culture until I got to college. I felt cheated. I started to see the shift in my consciousness as a woman of color once I took those classes. I wanted him to learn about his culture and he be proud… he is proud.”

Zamudio is a journalist living in Los Angeles.