On the first day of school at in Lake Worth, sunshine beamed through the windows of Marie Delva鈥檚 bright and tidy classroom. On the white board, a message read 鈥淏yenveni Nan Jadendanfan鈥� 鈥� Welcome to Kindergarten.
Dressed in matching red shirts and khakis, Delva鈥檚 kindergarteners sat on a colorful rug in the middle of the room, enraptured as she spoke in a steady stream of Haitian Creole.
鈥淢y name is Madame Delva. What鈥檚 your name?鈥� she said in Haitian Creole. 鈥淢wen rele Madame Delva. Kijan ou rele?鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
鈥淪usy!鈥� cried one of her young students.
鈥淪usy! C鈥檈st tr猫s bien!鈥� Delva replied.
There are of school districts across the country that immerse students in Haitian Creole. Now even more students in Palm Beach County schools are getting that chance, thanks to a .
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Next door to Delva's class, Nicole Armstrong鈥檚 students were doing the same thing 鈥� in English. Sitting in a circle on a matching rug decorated with bright shapes and colors, Armstrong鈥檚 students took turns introducing themselves.
鈥淵our name is Devon, so what do we say?鈥� Armstrong asked her kindergarteners. 鈥淕ood morning Devon, right? Let鈥檚 say it!鈥�
鈥淕ood morning Devon!鈥� they cheered.
Some of these students are native speakers of Haitian Creole and others primarily speak English. Together, they鈥檒l learn in both languages 鈥� with of becoming bilingual, biliterate and bicultural, as Spanish dual language students have done for . Palm Beach County is home to more than 56,000 Haitian immigrants, ranking it among the nation's largest Haitian-American communities.
For years, districts across the country have lagged in offering Haitian Creole immersion programs, even as in French, Mandarin and Portuguese have taken off.
Haitian Creole is the in Florida, after English and Spanish. And it鈥檚 the mother tongue of the world鈥檚 first Black republic. But the language has long been maligned as a bastardized version of French. Even , most students .
Simply finding and developing Haitian Creole language teaching materials was a challenge, district staff told SA国际传谋 last year, because academic instruction of the language is relatively rare.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade students face off in 10th Haitian History Bee
When Indian Pines was offered the opportunity to participate in the district鈥檚 dual language program, Principal Jill Robinson says the school jumped at the chance.
鈥淎s a campus, we're excited,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淚'm excited to see where it goes.鈥�
The school has a track record of reaching students and their families through their heritage languages. As kids and parents streamed through the dropoff line on the first day of school, staff greeted them in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and American Sign Language.
鈥淪peaking to the kids in their native language, they're very engaged,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淎nd says that if you bring up their native language, they pick up the second language that much faster. So I'm curious to see how that's going to play on our academic data and reading proficiency.鈥�
The county鈥檚 Haitian Creole is small but growing 鈥� Indian Pines is just the third school to offer it. The first program launched at Rolling Green Elementary during the 2022-2023 school year.
