Senior Elias Ramirez carefully listened to the voice in his headset, understanding and translating the foreign language with ease. He was not playing online games with someone in another country. Instead, he was trying to demonstrate his mastery of Spanish so he could earn the Hawaii’s Seal of Biliteracy.
Students who attend public schools across the State of Hawaii are required to take at least two years of a foreign language class. However, there are some that wish to extend their knowledge in foreign language past the required amount in an attempt to earn the coveted Seal of Biliteracy by the time they graduate.
The Seal of Biliteracy is an award bestowed by the Hawaii State Department of Education to recognize students who have studied and displayed proficiency in either one of the state’s two official languages (English or Hawaiian) and at least one additional foreign language. The Seal is evidence of a student’s language skills, that students can display to colleges and future employers.
To be eligible, students must be a graduating senior enrolled in a Hawaii public or charter school. They must demonstrate a minimum overall 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) upon graduation, while also successfully completing courses required for English Language Arts or Hawaiian Language Arts for a high school graduation diploma with a minimum 3.0 GPA upon graduation. Finally, towards the end of their senior year, the student must attain the requisite score for a DOE-certified exam that will test their knowledge in the second language they have been studying in. Students are also require to study their second language for all four years of high school.
Students from different backgrounds pursue the coveted Seal of Biliteracy. Some are already fluent in their second language, while others are not.
Senior Elias Ramirez comes from a Salvadorian-cultured family. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who is seeking to improve his literacy in the language, and the Biliteracy Seal is his way of showing his mastery of literacy in Spanish.
“I speak Spanish at home every day,” Ramirez explained.
“It does help a lot with the class and the test, especially with the speaking and listening sections of the testing,” Ramirez said.
However, many students beginning their study in a foreign language are not quite as familiar with their second language of study, as Ramirez is. Students such as senior Jasmine Chee started learning Spanish at the start of her freshman year.
“I actually would consider Spanish a third language since I come from a Cantonese-speaking household,” Chee said.
“Comparing Cantonese to Spanish, it became clear that I am not immersed in Spanish...A struggle I had was to gather the courage to just ‘go for it’ and practice speaking Spanish with my peers...I needed to understand that we are all here to learn and improve,” Chee said.
Seniors started taking the biliteracy tests in late February, and are awaiting the results of their tests. They have yet to find out whether or not their hard work has earned them the coveted Seal of Biliteracy.