When I arrived at Hillcrest Elementary school I was intrigued by the diversity and community.

The hallway bulletin boards were full of colorful depictions of various cultures and school

activities. I knew if the hallways were this rich the classrooms should be a perfect example of

multicultural education (21-23)

I entered Mrs. Perez’s 3rd grade classroom during silent reading. My initial thoughts of Hillcrest

came true the classroom had an abundance of supplies and eye candy. It was not overdone;

this would be my perfect classroom. Bright colorful bulletin boards showcasing reference

materials and classroom achievements were everywhere. The scenery and references were in

both English and Spanish. English is the dominant culture (112) that is taught in the classroom.

Hillcrest is schools that emphasize bilingual education (266-629). Many of the students in the

school are English language learners (269). Even if a student’s first language is English they are

still striving for languageacquisition (257-259). Every student at Hillcrest is learning an

additional language than their native. One of the goals of Hillcrest is bidialectalism (26).

Mrs. Perez taught the majority of the time in English. But, she would give examples of concepts

they were working on in Spanish as well. The second part of the day was taught in Spanish.

Each night the students had homework in Reading, Math and Spanish. There were several ELL

students in the class she would provide them explanations of instructions or concepts in

Spanish if they were having difficulty understanding. Throughout the day Mrs. Perez would

discuss the importance of a cross cultural awareness (220-222). The students sat in groups

table of four students per table. Each grouping was a mixture of ELL and native English. Mrs.

Perez said she found the set up worked best to create a corporative learning environment (325)

as well help in socialization (86). This arrangement also helped because the English speaking

students could assist the ELL and vice versa during the Spanish segment of the day. Mrs. Perez

also found that there was less stereotyping (92-93) and build ELL confidence in learning a new

language.

I had a wonderful time at Hillcrest. I left wanting my children to attend a school like this. The

student culture (110) was infectious. While I was in Mrs. Perez’s class the principal came

through with the VPK students dressed for a wedding. The girls had necklaces with the letter Q

and the boys with bowties with the letter U. The group was singing “the Q and U were

married”. It was wonderful being part of a school where students and their education was

cherished and flourished.