Not a word of English is spoken in Crystal Flores’ first-grade class at Erma Nash Elementary School. All instructions, lessons and conversation in the class is in Spanish.But this isn’t an English as a second language class. Half the students are English dominant, the other half are Spanish dominant.

Baylor University is considering a new undergraduate and graduate program for training bilingual educators in an effort to fill an increasing need in McLennan County, School of Education officials said. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction is in the midst of a search for a senior-level faculty member to get the program off the ground and hopes to have it up and running by next fall, department chairman Larry Browning said.

Margarita del Mazo conducts storytelling sessions for district 200 students. An award-winning Spanish author whose children’s books have been translated into a dozen languages visited Woodstock schools last week.

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) convened a Congressional Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Caucus briefing on October 4, 2017, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The focus of the briefing is to inform policy makers and their staffs about the value and impact of HSIs while encouraging more members of Congress to join the HSI Caucus.

HACU Chief Advocacy Officer Luis Maldonado will introduce the Congressional HSI Caucus initiative and HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores will speak about the impact and value of HSIs and HACU’s vision for the Caucus. The four representatives who have committed to co-chair the Caucus, Susan Davis of California, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Will Hurd of Texas, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, will address their plans for the Caucus.

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