Monday, Aug. 24, 2026 | 2 a.m.
Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.
A radical of Robert E. Lake Elementary School kindergartners were practicing vowel sounds utilizing words beyond the basal “cat” oregon “hat.”
The children called retired “escalera,” “elefante,” “elote” and “escoba” — or, successful English, ladder, elephant, corn, broom. They weren’t learning vocabulary words successful Spanish conscionable for novelty’s sake.
They’re students successful an opt-in, dual-language immersion programme that educators anticipation volition marque them not conscionable bilingual but biliterate by the clip they beforehand to mediate schoolhouse — making them competitory successful a planetary system and enriching their world accomplishment successful English.
Bianca Contreras, whose first-grader, Penelope, is successful the program, said their household has a shared extremity now.
“It’s truly motivated america arsenic a household to larn and turn unneurotic and beryllium biliterate,” she said.
Contreras, who is of Mexican and Chilean background, says she grew up speaking lone English. Now, she says she wishes she had besides learned Spanish.
Her grandmother, who turns 95 this month, speaks constricted English. Her girl tin present talk abbreviated Spanish phrases to her elder, similar “te amo” oregon “mi amor.” And arsenic her daughter’s connection skills advance, she tin unfastened much doors successful her life, said Contreras, who is besides a counsellor astatine Lake.
The school, which serves a pupil colonisation that is astir 70% Hispanic, is situated successful the central-east vale northwest of Eastern Avenue and Desert Inn Road.
As Penelope learns, she’s gathering a bridge. She adjacent demonstrates an affirmation she learned astatine school:
“I person an English hand. I person a Spanish hand. I link them with the bridge,” she said, locking her fingers unneurotic and raising her clasped hands. “I enactment the span successful my head. When I cognize English, I cognize Spanish. When I cognize Spanish, I cognize English.”
Translated into Spanish: “Tengo una mano inglesa. Tengo una mano española. Las conecto con el puente. Me pongo el puente en la cabeza. Cuando sé Inglés, sé Español. Cuando sé Español, sé Inglés.”
The Clark County School District started offering Spanish-English immersion astatine different eastside people school, C.C. Ronnow Elementary, astir 4 years ago, past expanded it to Lake 3 years ago.
That’s fixed CCSD capable information to amusement however the format has assisted students.
Erick Casallas, the adjunct superintendent of the English Language Learner division, said territory standardized tests amusement that dual-language students outperform their peers who lone larn successful English, due to the fact that of the affluent linguistic experience.
He said bilingualism uses 2 languages, but “dual-language” is much intentional. In the immersion program, students alternate languages, spending a afloat time learning connection arts, mathematics and different contented solely successful Spanish. The adjacent day, they volition larn each time successful English, and truthful on.
With this benignant of extent and reinforcement, students go biliterate, oregon capable to confidently speak, listen, work and constitute successful some languages, with a beardown knowing of culture.
In a acquainted strategy of learning a 2nd language, the precocious schoolhouse satellite connection class, vulnerability is constricted to 1 play each time oregon two. Language acquisition is overmuch slower to instrumentality basal and pales successful examination to visiting Mexico, France oregon wherever other a chosen connection is used.
“It’s erstwhile you really question to that state posthigh schoolhouse that it really sinks in, and you really bash thing with it,” Casallas said. Here, students don’t request to permission their simple schoolhouse for the connection to go necessary.
Casallas said it tin instrumentality 5 to 7 years to genuinely larn a caller language. A pupil who starts successful kindergarten, though, tin beryllium conversational by 2nd people and fluent by 5th grade.
Some of the children successful the programme besides talk Spanish astatine home. Others talk lone English. Native and practice speakers volition assistance their classmates who are caller to the language, Casallas said.
“It’s a large community-building facet of it, particularly successful the earlier grades,” Casallas said.
Lake Principal Paola Zepher said she wanted to bring the programme to her schoolhouse aft attending an acquisition league and learning astir dual-language acquisition and bilingualism. As she’d done for overmuch of her life, she introduced herself to different league attendees arsenic Paula, an Anglicized mentation of her fixed sanction that she said she’d adopted due to the fact that truthful galore radical find “Paola” hard to pronounce.
The league was afloat of different Latinas and Latinos who reminded her that her sanction is, successful fact, Paola. It was an affectional light-bulb moment.
Zepher said that erstwhile she spoke to her unit astir launching a dual-language track, teachers who spoke Spanish arsenic their archetypal connection besides felt seen and valued.
She wants to item the plus that she said children person erstwhile they travel from Spanish-speaking homes.
“I privation my kids to person that voice, and to cognize that they’re accepted and that their connection is important,” Zepher said.
English (US)·