From Quiet Beginnings to Confident Voices: SEAL and MAOF Partner for Dual Language Success

At the heart of SEAL’s new partnership with Mexican America Opportunity Foundation (MAOF) are the smiles, inspiration and confidence emerging from students and families alike in just a short few months. This year, SEAL and MAOF partnered to build joyful, language-rich preschool classrooms where children thrive, families feel connected, and teachers are supported with research-based strategies. MAOF's Director of Early Language Learner and STEAM Ana Ramos-Aguirre says it’s a partnership already transforming classrooms and inspiring hope.

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“Teachers are seeing the results. Children who start the year quiet and hesitant finish it eager to talk, explain, and lead. Families, too, feel the difference.” — Ana Ramos-Aguirre

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A partnership grounded in community

MAOF is one of California’s largest providers of early learning, serving about 2,500 children from birth to age five across the state, with a strong presence in Los Angeles. For decades, MAOF has built programs that strengthen families and create opportunities for communities.

At the center of its work is the Family Care Model, designed to support the most critical needs of multigenerational households so that infants, children, parents, and seniors can all thrive. Dual language education is a natural extension of that vision.

Last year, MAOF launched its Dual Language Program in eight centers, partnering with CABE, Kindermusik, and La Librería to bring authentic Spanish literature and music into classrooms. This year, they deepened their work by partnering with SEAL.

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“Year two is now the partnership with SEAL, which is enhancing their strategies for our dual language learners in the classroom.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

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What SEAL brings to MAOF classrooms

Through this partnership, SEAL is equipping MAOF teachers with practical, research-based strategies that center language development and family engagement.
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• Focus on preschool ages 3–5. SEAL is supporting MAOF’s CSPP and Head Start classrooms with strategies that build strong oral language, vocabulary, and early literacy in Spanish and English.
• Professional learning for teachers. Educators gain routines they can use immediately including interactive read-alouds, songs, rich conversations, and purposeful play.
• Cohorts that build capacity. The first group of MAOF centers is now in year two with SEAL training while the second group of seven centers has just begun.
  Family Connection. By honoring students' home language in classrooms parents can fully engage in their children’s learning.
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“This type of teaching helps all students. So really, the strongest teaching methods are those that are supporting the language learners. I think having this support for the teachers is really something that is truly the investment that MAOF is making.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

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Early impact: classrooms transformed

Already, the change is visible. Children are more talkative, families are more engaged, and teachers are more confident in supporting multilingual learners.

Ana shared a favorite moment from a recent classroom visit. Educators engaged a four-year-old during a learning station using Spanish as the language of instruction. The child responded in English yet followed directions and held a full conversation. That moment captured what effective dual language instruction looks like in preschool: comprehension in the language of instruction, confident participation, and a visible bridge between languages.

Teachers are reporting similar growth. They see children who start the year quiet and finish it eager to talk, explain, and take turns leading. Families describe the pride of supporting schoolwork at home because read-alouds and routines happen in Spanish. Those bridges matter. They keep school and home connected from the very start.

“They had so much pride in the growth the kids have made…some of the joy with the parents, who were just ecstatic about just being able to help because they’re able to help their kids with school in Spanish.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

Why this matters now

For Ana, this work is not just professional — it’s personal.

Ana shared that across the country, many families are hearing rhetoric that devalues languages other than English. Our partnership is a clear statement of the opposite. Bilingualism is a strength. Honoring home language builds identity, strengthens family engagement, and accelerates learning. Research backs it. Communities feel it.

“Well, I think now more than ever, really combating that idea that Spanish is…not a language that is respected or valued in the United States. I think combating that idea has always been the main reason why I, for myself, I’ve been in dual language education as long as I have been.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

Her words reflect what many families know: honoring home language builds confidence, identity, and pride.

“We are a state of immigrants. We should not have to give up our heritage to succeed. Dual language education empowers children and families.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

Looking ahead

MAOF’s first cohort of teachers is now in its second year with SEAL training, while a new cohort is just beginning. Both groups are already shaping stronger classrooms and tighter connections between school and home.

“I’d like others to see the empowerment in education, the knowledge and really the research that really supports the work that we’re both doing.” - Ana Ramos-Aguirre

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The Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF) is one of California’s largest nonprofit providers of comprehensive community services. For more information, visit www.maof.org.