I did not know how to speak one word in English. The classroom was totally bewildering to me. because I did not understand anything the teacher was saying. But. because the Dade County Public School System was. and continues to be. a vanguard in the bilingual educational movement. programs were already being implemented to help refugee childrenthousands of themjust like me. I went to Southside. Riverside. and Shenandoah Elementary Schools in Miami and all had excellent bilingual programs. In a few years. all of us Cuban refugees were able to be mainstreamed into an Englishonly classroom. Could I have survived without a bilingual program? No.
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