Bilingual education is becoming a bigger focus for Roaring Fork High School (RFHS) students, as evidenced by the largest number ever of graduating seniors to have earned the coveted Seal of Biliteracy.
Among the 28 seniors at the Carbondale school who have proven themselves literate in at least two languages — representing 31% of this year’s graduating class — is the school’s first-ever Seal of Multiliteracy recipient, Eli Cohen.
A native English-speaker, Cohen said growing up in the Carbondale schools with its large percentage of Hispanic students whose native language is Spanish prompted him to become fluent in both languages at an early age.
“I’ve spoken Spanish most of my life going back to grade school, and then as I got older working in kitchens and playing on the soccer field is where I spoke Spanish a lot,” Cohen said. “I probably learned more Spanish there than in the classroom.”
A semester studying abroad in Italy his junior year prompted him to learn Italian, which he immersed himself in and used daily. And while there he was required to take French at the school he attended.
“I had studied a little bit of French when I was younger, but I had forgotten most of that, so I was happy to take it again,” Cohen said. “It definitely wasn’t easy trying to think in French and Italian, and translating it all in English in my head.”
Cohen continued his French studies upon returning to RFHS with teacher Eric Lamb.
“Mr. Lamb said he thought my French was good enough to go for the seal in that language, and so I decided to give it a try,” Cohen said.
He traveled with a group of students to France as part of a school trip this spring, where he had ample opportunity to use the language in his daily interactions, and ultimately passed all of the biliteracy requirements for French and Italian.
Becoming literate in a language is a lot more involved than just learning the basics to become fluent, explained Amanda Martinez, instructional coach for culturally and linguistically diverse education at RFHS.
Students who are pursuing the Seal of Biliteracy or Multiliteracy must prove proficiency in the four language domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
“To prove proficiency and earn the seal, students have to take an overall language assessment in their second language, which covers all four of those language domains,” Martinez said.
Students can apply a high score on an Advanced Placement language exam toward their Seal of Biliteracy certification, but all in all it’s a rigorous process that can span all four years of high school.
The Seal of Biliteracy was adopted by the Roaring Fork School District in 2017 for each of its high schools in Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Basalt, at the urging of two former Roaring Fork students, Tavia Teitler and Lorenzo Andrade.
The Seal of Biliteracy is now officially recognized by the Colorado Department of Education and its counterpart in other states, Martinez said.
Across the school district, Glenwood Springs, Bridges, Roaring Fork and Basalt high schools have seen the highest percentage ever of graduates earning the seal this year.
“The Seal of Biliteracy honors our students’ cultural identities and who they are,” Martinez said. “It’s a great source of pride for our students to show that they are not only bilingual, but that they are biliterate and are being recognized and awarded for that.”
Having such a large group of recipients this year can also help encourage younger students to pursue the requirements to earn the seal, she said.
Most of the students who earn the seal study English and Spanish. Many of them are native Spanish speakers who have worked throughout their school years to be literate in English but don’t want to lose their native language.
“I taught some of these students as sixth graders at Carbondale Middle School, and so many of these students are near and dear to my heart,” Martinez said. “I’ve watched their English language development progress and become more complex, and then to read their final pieces for the seal was really rewarding.”
Esmeralda Alverde Duarte was helping with interpretation at parent-teacher conferences at Crystal River Elementary School when she started down the path to earning her Seal of Biliteracy.
“The world is becoming so much more interconnected, and English is sort of dominating a lot of that discourse,” she said. “But there’s so much beauty in a lot of languages, and I don’t want to lose that.”
Alverde Duarte is also starting to learn French, and has even taken a Colorado Mountain College class in American Sign Language. She plans to attend Cornell University after graduation.
Cohen and Ricardo Zavala Magana were this year’s recipients of the Boettcher Scholarship, and their knowledge of multiple languages helped in being selected for the award.
“It has definitely cemented my love for learning languages,” Zavala Magana said. “I’ve always been interested in all the different ways that people communicate.”
He plans to attend the Colorado School of Mines, and his experience traveling to Spain and Portugal with the school’s World Traveler’s Club last year sparked his interest in learning Portuguese, as well.
Cohen is planning to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder to study biomechanical engineering. He also wants to continue learning languages, and perhaps do another study abroad.
“Hopefully in my career after college I can use my Spanish-, French- or Italian-speaking skills in my work,” he said, mentioning programs like Doctors Without Borders as a pursuit he is interested in.
Seal of Biliteracy recipients:
Esmeralda Alverde Duarte
Genesis Castillon
Eli Cohen (Seal of Multiliteracy)
Mia Cubias
Diana Diaz Sanchez
Tabatha Galicia
Lelaney Gardesani
Jocelyn Gonzalez
Sugey Gonzalez Rascon
Mateo Ledezma
Audry Lopez Sanchez
Carly Matinez Govea
Yesenia Martinez Vasquez
Ruby Mata
Inez Passerini-Burks
Julissa Perez Romero
Lucianna Phillips
Angel Quinteros
Margarita Rangel
Andrea Romero Najera
Angel Romero Najera
Fernanda Ruiz
Andrea Salais
Gabriel Salas Mena
Sulema Santiago
Angelli (Xatziri) Serafin Barragan
Annabelle Stableford
Ricardo Zavala