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Dual Immersion Goals: To provide students with opportunities to: • Develop bilingualism, biliteracy and multiculturalism: o Bilingualism-The development of high levels of oral proficiency in the student’s first and second language. o Bi-literacy- grade level academic achievement in English and Spanish. o Multiculturalism- Understand different cultures and participate in cross-cultural relationships and learning experiences that foster the development of positive self- esteem, cultural pride, and cultural sensitivity. • Meet or exceed grade level standards while acquiring proficiency in a second language. • Be involved with their parents in their educational process. • The development of high self-esteem. Who can participate? • Transitional Kindergarten – Grade 1 students who speak English, Spanish or both. • Spanish-speaking students can enter at later grade level if they qualify through proficiency assessments. Dual Immersion Program Benefits: • Children learn a second language more naturally at a young age. • Bi-literate skills give students the options for careers requiring multilingual skills. • The study of a second language helps develop strong thinking and reasoning skills useful for problem-solving. • Get a head start in competition for universities and jobs in a global economy. Parent/Student Commitment If you choose to enroll your child in the Dual Language Immersion program, it is important to consider the following: • Attendance is critical. Every day counts! • Parents must be actively involved in their child’s education: o At home: by using their home language to share their culture, literature, and music to reinforce children’s learning. o At school by volunteering in classroom and school activities. • Parents who choose to enroll their child are committing to a period of five to seven years (TK-5), in order to be fluent in both languages. Dual Immersion Defined: Education that combines students from two language groups for instruction has been in existence for nearly 40 years, and its popularity has grown. High quality two-way immersion programs share certain features: • Classes are taught by qualified and highly trained bilingual teachers. • The program includes fairly equal numbers of two groups of students: native English speakers and native Spanish speakers. • Dual Language Immersion is a unique educational program that builds student bilingualism and bi-literacy in English and in Spanish. • Students continue to learn standards- based content while they become fluent linguistically and academically. Our district is incorporating the 50/50 Dual Immersion model. In this model, 50% of instruction is in English and 50% is in Spanish. Curriculum and grade level content standards are consistent with the elementary school programs of AUSD.
