Lillian Zayas grew up in Syracuse around a huge Latino population where she learned to speak both Spanish and English. Now, she is a Seymour Academy Dual Language Coach, where she’s won the State Association for Bilingual Instruction Assistant of the Year Award.
Zayas said she is honored that her efforts have been noticed.
“I feel my advocacy for bilingual students has been heard, and I feel I have left some type of a footprint in the Syracuse City School District so that this work can continue throughout the years,” Zayas said,
Zayas said one roadblock facing those teaching dual languages is there aren’t equitable resources for teaching Spanish. Zayas said better resources will help students.
“But we want it equitable to the language. So as long as we have the resources that can support the units of study, we can do that in both languages. But it needs to reflect the Spanish language and not be a translation of English,” Zayas said.
With the Syracuse City School District approving Delaware Primary to join Seymour Dual Language Academy as bilingual schools this fall, Zayas said teaching both languages should get easier.
“We’re going to pull our resources together, our teachers together. They’re going to be able to support each other [and] collaborate. And we’re going to be able to promote bilingual and biliteracy,” Zayas said.
Zayas said a recent conference convinced her not to look at English and Spanish as separate languages but to make connections between them. She said that will make it easier for kids to learn.
