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Kiyah Rose Charles
By Delilah Allen
Kiyah Rose Charles, 8th Grader at Arrowview Middle School in San Bernardino was the only African American student out of 180 recipients to receive the Biliteracy achievement award this school year 2015-2016.
Kiyah began the Dual Immersion Program in the 1st grade at Lincoln Elementary, which is one of the fourteen Elementary schools in San Bernardino Unified School District that offers the program. Overall, in dual immersion programs, students learn content through both their native language and the target language. Simultaneous translation is never used. By the end of 5th grade, all students in the program are proficient in English, proficient in the target language, and at or above grade level academic benchmarks. This was concept was attained by Kiyah allowing her to become fluent in speaking and writing the Spanish language after being in the program for a total of 8 years now.
Kiyah desires to eventually use Spanish to an advantage in life through her education and career goals as well as she eventually begins to travel and experience other cultures. Kiyah expressed,
“During my travels I’d like to work with people who need my help due to their lack of knowledge of the English language or income, I just want to be remembered as someone who helped and has done something great with her life.”
