SAN ANTONIO — A mural on San Antonio’s West Side fills Esmeralda Alday with pride. It’s called the “8 stages in the life of a Chicana.”

“She’s looking in the mirror and and she’s seeing herself and she’s seeing her ancestors,” Alday said of the mural. “It’s like falling in love with yourself and falling in love with your cultura and where you come from.”

What You Need To Know

  • A San Antonio mural called the "8 stages in the life of a Chicana" fills one woman with pride

  • Esmeralda Alday is the executive director of the dual language, ESL and migrant department at SAISD

  • She’s built dual language programs like Irving Dual Language Academy to make sure the 11,000 emerging bilingual students in the district don’t fall behind the way she did

  • SAISD promised its dual language programs — which helps students excel in two languages — will strengthen now that 15 of its schools are closing. Alday says in traditional schools, first-generation American students often compromise, whether it’s learning English and losing their native tongue or struggling to speak English

She’s from this barrio, which is known to be historically poor, but rich with culture. It's a culture she says was stripped away from her growing up in San Antonio ISD.

“And I lost my Spanish in this district as a result of the practices in this district,” Alday said. 

She’s the executive director of the dual language, ESL and migrant department at SAISD. She’s built dual language programs like Irving Dual Language Academy to make sure the 11,000 emerging bilingual students in the district don’t fall behind the way she did.

“SAISD’s enrollment has dwindled but the number of emerging bilinguals and immigrant students has gone up,” Alday said.

SAISD promised its dual language programs — which helps students excel in two languages — will strengthen now that 15 of its schools are closing. Alday says in traditional schools, first-generation American students often compromise, whether it’s learning English and losing their native tongue or struggling to speak English.

“I translated mail, I would interpret at doctors' offices and legal jargon that I probably wouldn’t understand now,” Alday said.

Dual language, she says, fills that void. Jaqueline Hernandez agrees. She grew up in SAISD and has taught at Irving since it was a middle school.

“All of our language that goes home is in Spanish and English,” Hernandez said. “Our meetings are in Spanish and English, so there’s never a question of 'Am I going to understand when I go to school?'”

They say it relieves immigrant parents who want what’s best for their children, but just don’t know what that looks like in English.

“If by stronger do we mean more students, more Spanish in the classroom, because there will be more Spanish speaking kids then it will be stronger,” Alday said.

She believes it's critical for the district to listen to the needs of the students.

“Our students are going to teach us what kind of dual language program works for them because you can’t shove formal Spanish down a community that is sick of being colonized,” Alday said.