The Little School of the 400 was a program in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to teach
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
-speaking children 400
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
words before they entered
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
during the late 1950s.
History
Spanish-speaking children in Texas were being discriminated against due to strong nationalist and racist sentiments. Because they had not grown up speaking English, they were labeled as ignorant and incapable of learning by the public school teachers, administrators, and systems across the state. This led to high drop out rates of
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
, many of whom did not further their education past the third grade.
Felix Tijerina
Felix Tijerina (1905–1965) was a Mexican-American restaurateur, activist, and philanthropist in Houston, Texas. He served as the 25th president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
History
Tijerina was born in General Escobedo, ...
, then the national president of the
League of United Latin American Citizens
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest Hispanic and Latin-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was established on February 17, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, largely by Hispanics r ...
(LULAC), along with Tony Campos, David Adame, and Jacob Rodriguez, devised this program to help children better transition into the English-language environment of public schooling, and ultimately integrating in a segregated Texas. It was created in 1957 and piloted in
Ganado, TX. The goal of the program was to teach 400 basic English words to help Spanish-speaking children to manage instruction given in English in the regular public educational system and therefore help them achieve higher levels of schooling.
LULAC Council 60, of
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, was in charge of the program.
The
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
of the "Little School" was used to model programs such as the
Bilingual Education Act
The Bilingual Education Act (BEA), also known as the Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1967, was the first United States federal legislation that recognized the needs of limited English speaking ability (LESA) s ...
,
Head Start,
Texas Child Migrant Program, and Title I of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...
.
A Texas Historical Marker now stands at Ganado Elementary School commemorating the program of the LS400.
25th president - elected at the 1956 convention, at the 1957 convention, at the 1958 convention, and, at the 1959 convention held in San Antonio, Texas. Served four terms.
Felix Tijerina, the son of a farm worker, found himself with the heavy responsibility of helping support his widowed mother and three sisters when he was barely nine years old. He toiled in the cotton fields and had no opportunity to attend school. As the hard years went by, he finally moved to Houston, got a job as a dishwasher, taught himself English, married, and established his own restaurant.
He was very successful and eventually became the owner of three restaurants. Wealth brought him invitations to join civic organizations, including LULAC. Tijerina was a member of Houston LULAC Council #60. He held many positions within the council. He was the director of the Rotary Club, of a bank and of numerous enterprises.
Never forgetting his own hardships as a boy who could speak English, Tijerina was the inspiration and financial backer of the Little School of the 400, the precursor of the Headstart Program.
See also
*
Spanish language in Texas
*
Spanish language in the United States
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of ...
References
External links
tshaonline.org
{{coord missing, Texas
Hispanic and Latino American organizations
1957 establishments in Texas
Language education in the United States
Defunct schools in Texas
Spanish language in the United States
Languages of Texas