Opportunity to achieve Seal of Biliteracy available to students

Hebrew teacher Josh Morrel (standing) shares a story as he introduces a new unit on relationships. The units within the foreign language curriculum prepare students to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy. Morrel is an advocate for the Seal, which was introduced to Glenbrook North students this year. Photo by Chloe Carroll

Juniors and seniors will have the ability to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy, an award given to those who display a high proficiency in English and another language, at Glenbrook North on Feb. 15, March 7 and March 21.

Students who want to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Hebrew or Latin must achieve “intermediate high” scores on a standardized exam for their respective language.

Kellye Guzik, instructional supervisor of World Languages, said members of the Oral Proficiency Interview grade the exams and look for qualifications based on the guidelines they have created. The graders then determine if a student has achieved “intermediate high” scores.

“An intermediate high speaker can function fully in a society in [a] second language,” Guzik said.

Guzik said students who are learning English as a second language will be able to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy as well.

The tests cost $25, and students can sign up for their respective language after finals in the bookstore. Students should sign up a week prior to the exam day of their choice. Students taking courses at Glenbrook South for Japanese and American Sign Language are expected to be offered exams associated with their language of choice.

The exams used to test the proficiency of the second language can be substituted with a 4 or 5 on the respective language AP exam, but this will cause a delay in receiving the Seal of Biliteracy due to the late grading of the AP exams.

In addition to showing proficiency in a second language, students must meet or exceed standards in accordance with the state of Illinois on the ACT English portion or the SAT English portion to receive the Seal of Biliteracy.

Hebrew teacher Josh Morrel said all public colleges in Illinois recognize the achievement of the Seal of Biliteracy as course credit.

According to Morrel, the Seal of Biliteracy will be beneficial for all students, even if they graduate the year they are awarded the Seal.

“When you are looking for internships, to say, ‘I have the state Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish,’ I think that goes a long way,” said Morrel. “ … You can say, ‘According to the state of Illinois, I’ve earned the state Seal of Biliteracy in this language,’ and that, I think, carries a lot more weight than just saying, ‘Oh, I’m fluent in this language.’”

Senior Gabriel Zorrilla, who speaks English, Spanish and French, said he made the decision not to take the test to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy.

“I’ve already submitted my college transcripts, and at this point, it wouldn’t really matter if I had the Seal of Biliteracy in terms of consideration of college,” said Zorrilla. “And then having it … wouldn’t do me any good either.”

Guzik said students can take multiple language tests if they desire to do so.

“[Students] can qualify for the state Seal in two or maybe even three languages other than English,” Guzik said.

Junior Matthew Zhang, who speaks Chinese at home, said he plans to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy for both French and Chinese.

“I thought it would be a really good opportunity for me to prove my proficiency in both languages,” said Zhang. “It’s also a nice sign of accomplishment for all my years of learning both languages.”

For the 2017-2018 academic year, Guzik said she would like GBN to offer students the ability to achieve the Seal of Biliteracy in a wider variety of languages.

“My goal is after [offering Korean and Polish], every year we can add on one more language,” said Guzik. “The idea of the state Seal is to be very inclusive  [of all languages].”

Guzik said she is looking forward to the opportunities students will have after achieving the Seal of Biliteracy.

“I think it’s going to be really exciting to award our first group of students the Seal, and I look forward to them hopefully coming back and sharing their stories about how language has helped them in whatever path in life they have chosen to take,” Guzik said.