A Fighting Chance

This online program teaches students in their own language and they are able to better understand the lessons they have in school. This is a supplement to their ESL classes and helps them pass their classes and learn English too. DP

Lucha program helps immigrant students beat challenges of new land and language

by Ryan Holeywell

themonitor.com: Donna High School senior Sergio Barrientos knew almost no English when he moved here from Reynosa two years ago.

But this spring, he’ll graduate from high school and join the U.S. Navy.

District officials point to Barrientos as an example of the power of Lucha, a new online program that caters to recent immigrant students and is making waves across the state.
“With the help of Lucha, I’m a senior,” Barrientos said.

The program allows recent students who have emigrated from Mexico to take online courses in their native language and earn high school credit in Texas.

Proponents of Lucha, which means fight, hope the program will help address the struggle immigrant students face when they are forced to try to understand classes taught in a language they barely understand.

“The challenge of these students was a double whammy,” said Felipe Alanis, a former Texas Education Agency chief who pioneered the program two years ago. “You not only have to learn the language, you have to learn the content.”

Generally, bilingual education is not required in Texas secondary schools. Students are instead placed in English as a Second Language programs in which the classes are taught in English.

Lucha is a supplement to ESL, not a replacement, and students using the software continue to receive classroom instruction in English, Alanis said.
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