Dual-immersion classes
Kindergartners to be taught in two languages
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
To help English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students do
better academically, elementary schools in Blaine County plan to begin
teaching some kindergarten classes in both languages this fall.
Bellevue Elementary School ESL teacher
Kathleen Diepenbrock reads "Snakes!" with students Juan Castro,
center, and Karina Velasco. A new way of teaching may help better
integrate Spanish-speaking students and help all students academically. Express
photo by David Seelig
The Blaine County School District has received a $507,000
federal grant to hire two bi-lingual teachers for dual-immersion classes
at Bellevue and Hemingway elementary schools. The classes would help
teachers better meet the needs of English-speaking students as well as
Spanish-speaking students, whose numbers have grown to 320 in the
district, compared to a decade ago when there were fewer than 25.
Dual-immersion classes devote equal amounts of time to
teaching all subjects in English and Spanish, with no translation offered
by teachers. Scheduling in local schools has not yet been determined, but,
for example, classes composed equally of English-first and Spanish-first
students might be taught entirely in Spanish one day, then entirely in
English the next. The dual-immersion concept is fairly unusual with only
about 300 school districts in the nation offering the classes.
Local school officials say both English- and
Spanish-speaking students would benefit cognitively from the new way of
teaching. Bilingual students perform better than monolingual students on
tasks that call for divergent thinking, pattern recognition and problem
solving, they say.
Students whose first language is Spanish would no longer
be removed from classes in other subject areas to learn English. That may
help increase those students’ standardized test scores which, in grades
three through 11, are typically below 30 percent compared to 60 percent or
above for the general student body in Blaine County.
"Another thing I like about it is you’re
integrating kids," said Kathleen Diepenbrock, an
English-as-Second-Language teacher at Bellevue Elementary.
The current system of pulling ESL students out of regular
classes, she said, likely sends a divisive message to the remaining
students of "Oh, all the dark-skinned, brown-haired students are in
this [other] room."
On Friday afternoon in her tiny classroom, Diepenbrock
taught four second-grade ESL students using the traditional
"pull-out" method, as she has for the six years she’s been a
teacher in the school district.
Sitting around a miniature table, the students read
sections from a book about snakes, and enthusiastically read aloud their
own writings both in Spanish and English. Like many ESL students, they
speak English well, but need extra help with reading and writing the
language.
Though ESL students like these who are taught the
traditional way might appear to be doing quite well in the early grades,
looks can be deceiving, Diepenbrock said. Typically, pull-out students
improve in all subject areas between kindergarten and third grade, she
said. Then their performance declines.
"I used to think I’ve got to get them learning
English fast," she said. But forcing them to learn English too fast
can cause them to lose their native language, which has been widely shown
to slow all learning. "We need to keep them progressing in their
natural language while they learn English."
Dual-immersion is "not so much teaching language
classes apart from context," she said, as it is "learning both
languages in the context of all subjects."
Bringing monolingual kindergartners into school and trying
to teach them in a language they don’t understand might seem difficult,
she said, but it works because so much learning at that age is hands-on
and uses visual aids.
Currently, English-speaking students don’t begin
learning a second language until grade seven. Another advantage of
learning a second language earlier is students’ accents are better,
Diepenbrock said.
But with all the advantages dual-immersion classes have to
offer, the district plans a somewhat cautious approach to offering them.
At first, one kindergarten class each would be offered at Bellevue and
Hemingway, with current funding allowing dual-immersion classes to
continue for three years.
Diepenbrock called the classes "additive" or
"enrichment," meaning they would probably not be ideally suited
for all students at first. Though the classes would not be specifically
aimed at high-achieving students, struggling students would be discouraged
from enrolling, because "it might take them a little longer to become
equally proficient in both languages." Teachers would watch closely
for students who begin to fall behind.
Diepenbrock, who was the district’s second ESL teacher
when she began at Bellevue six years ago, is now one of six ESL teachers,
helped by eight bi-lingual teaching assistants. She said the district’s
dual-immersion plans resulted from three years of research she and Blake
Walsh, district director for student services, conducted with the district’s
ESL committee.
