BY CHANDRA M. HAYSLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

When Francheili Tineo moved to Perth Amboy last year from the Dominican Republic, she only knew the months and numbers in English. Today, she's nearly fluent, but sometimes gets the urge to revert to Spanish.

As Francheili's language arts teacher, Gabriela Pugliese, instructed her students to put away "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," the seventh-grader reminded Pugliese -- in Spanish -- that they needed the books to complete their next assignment designing maps.

"I try to only talk in English, but sometimes I talk in Spanish," the 13-year-old said.

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