Mildred Rodriguez had always spoken to her kids in Spanish.
“But once [Sebastian] started kindergarten, he told me, ‘No, we speak English here,’” she said.
She realized it was because he did not want to feel different from his friends at school.
“No parent wants to feel that their kids are embarrassed of them,” she said, voice cracking.
“I was concerned that he’s embarrassed. God, he’s going to be embarrassed of who he is. And if you don’t accept who you are, it’s going to be a tough life.”
Rodriguez wears black rimmed glasses and has a warm smile that reveals dimples on either side of her near paper-white teeth. She is a chemist at SpringWorks Therapeutics, a Durham-based cancer research company. She has worked there for nearly six years, according to her LinkedIn page, which boasts a photo of the Puerto Rican flag as the banner image.
She’s proud of the Spanish language she grew up speaking and wants her kids to feel the same way. That’s why she spends her Saturdays sitting in a school cafeteria while her sons, Esteban, 9, and Sebastian, 11, attend Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition, more commonly called ISLA.
Rodriguez signed her sons up for ISLA’s Los Sábados program as soon as she heard about it from a friend. It took two years of waiting on a list. Once they got in, they hardly missed a Saturday.
ISLA is open for kids ages 3 to 17. The only requirement: have at least one parent of Hispanic origin.
It started in 2012 with 12 kids. Now, there are more than 150 students.
To keep it free for all to attend, the program is capped at 200 students, with low-income families prioritized.
They meet nearly every Saturday morning, 9 a.m. to noon, from October to April. Students learn about Latin American history and culture entirely in Spanish.
“You can see teachers that look like yourself,” Co-Executive Director of ISLA Josue Cordova said. “And you can see yourself represented in the books that you read, the projects that you have with your classmates, and having conversations about identity is really important for us.”
Organization for the day starts at 7 a.m. After two hours of preparation, teachers and their volunteers are ready to start classes.
“That’s when the fun begins,” Cordova said.
The sound of children’s shrieks of laughter soon fills the halls, along with singing and chatting in Spanish of all different accents. Nearly every Latin American country is represented.
The lessons are not traditionally structured.
“We try to explain that this is to have fun, not to get another extra school day,” said Julia Arriaga, who has been a teacher at ISLA for eight years.
ISLA emphasizes hands-on learning and activities that get the kids moving. Arriaga starts every class with exercise time to give the students a chance to jump around and wake up. It gives her a minute to dispel her own grogginess, too, as the caffeine from her morning coffee slowly kicks in. But it is not just the caffeine that energizes her.
Many of the teachers say Saturdays are their favorite days of the week.
Maria Lucia Bernal has taught first graders in the Los Sábados program for the past two years. She also works during the week as a preschool teacher.
Even in her Monday through Friday job, she teaches her students that being bilingual is a superpower, encouraging students to reframe the way they look at the language.
Bernal said language is only part of ISLA’s broader goal, though.
“Knowing about roots, knowing about other cultures makes us powerful because we know more about the world,” she said.
Back in the cafeteria, the parents are learning too. There are frequent workshops held informing them of finance management, fraud prevention and mental health resources.
“Honestly, I feel like sometimes parents get almost more out of it,” Rodriguez said.
And that could not be more important than now, she said.
January of last year brought a chill.
“Know Your Rights” workshops were added to the programming for the parents to educate people about laws surrounding immigration enforcement.
Plans were made for what to do if the worst came true. Where the kids would go. Who would take care of them. Impossible conversations.
There were fewer faces at ISLA on Saturdays in the spring and less laughter in the hallways. Some parents were keeping their kids home– for a few, just making the drive felt like a gamble.
“We don’t ask their status, because we don’t have to ask,” Cordova said. “But there’s a fear in some of the families.”
The waitlist for ISLA had always been long; the demand for a Spanish-speaking space had always been high. But over the summer, Cordova began to wonder.
Will we be able to fill the classes in the fall?
Will the kids still come?
New measures were taken to protect their island.
This year’s flyers for Los Sábados are much vaguer than before.
“Location: South of Durham, 10 minutes away from South Point Mall.”
Specifics are not shared with the public. Cordova requested that the exact address not be included in this article.
Carpooling has become more common and intentional.
All a part of the new normal.
But the island is weathering out the political storm. ISLA is here to stay.
“It’s really a safe space, not only for the kids, but for the parents to have conversations and maybe share worries that may not be easy to share in other situations, and there’s a different level of understanding,” Rodriguez said.
Breakout box with volunteer information:
Want to donate or volunteer at ISLA?
Visit online at laislaschool.org
Contact ISLA’s Volunteer Coordinator at volunteers@laislaschool.org or call (919) 265-7692
