The ABCs of Hmong
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Ninety percent of instruction is in Hmong for kindergartners in the Hmong immersion program at Susan B. Anthony Elementary. Photo by Andria Lo.
The ABCs of Hmong
By Momo Chang
At Susan B. Anthony Elementary, Mr. Vue’s kindergarteners sit on a brightly colored carpet as they look up at him, repeating sounds of the alphabet.
“Ahhh, aaay, eeeh,” he sings as the children sing along. The sounds are not in English. The school, located in South Sacramento, is home to the only Hmong dual-language immersion program on the West Coast — and the second in the country after a similar program in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dual, or two-way, language immersion programs are ones where students learn English and another language with the goals of developing a high level of proficiency in both, academic
