Two Languages, One Goal

On a December morning at Lincoln Avenue School in Orange, New Jersey, a gritty suburb of Newark, Latino 1st graders who don’t know much English read a story about a rat in English, and then follow it with a story about a rat in Spanish.

During the 120-minute literacy block, the students’ teacher, Maria Albuquerque-Malaman, and ESL instructor Enid Shapiro-Unger use the theme of animals and their homes to teach in both English and Spanish.

Such scenes are not unusual in the state, which requires bilingual education in districts with at least 20 students who speak...