Spanish in the classroom

I really like Stand and Deliver because it has elements of Spanish in the classroom. I think it is really important for our society to acknowledge the fact that we are no longer a monolingual country. There are so many students in our classrooms that don't understand the material because they are not fully fluent in the language that the material is being taught in. It was raelly to the benefit of the Spanish speaking students in the classroom that their teacher was fluent in spanish. Obviously test scores aren't going to be god if the students can't even understand what is being taught. In the Boston Public Schools, about 17,000 students are so-called English language learners, and 46 percent of the total student population speaks a language other than English. (http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/columns/2013/05/21/sink-swim-english-only-classroom/xONS1ZILQ4mRYOdM0Ex6fN/story.html). Graduating with a dual degree in December in both Spanish and HDFS, I understand the importance of knowing a second language. I hope to be able to help my students learn and reach their full potential in the classroom.