How does it work? Well from what I know so far.....

I was one of the first people to question the accountability of such a program. And of course, family members and friends are skeptical to the idea. I had to educate my husband on the matter to get him on board. I hear it all...How will it affect his ability to learn? Will he learn as much as traditional track kids?  Will he fall behind in his studies? I've gotten all the questions. I have done my homework. Short answer, No learning another languages opens a part of your brain you don't use everyday. Statistically, the kids don't fall behind .  Yeah, it's different but when I read about how the US is the only country that doesn't learn another language it disturbs me. I'm patriotic. I love America, my country. My father fought for our freedom. I understand the melting pot and what this nation was built on and I understand that a long time ago people who migrated here were required to learn English. Well times they are a'changing. It doesn't matter how I or you feel about that. But I would rather grow with my America if I can or at least give my child the opportunity I was never given.  This program is becoming so popular that faculty members are taking their kids there. If it's good enough for the faculty it's good enough for me.  There are approx.. 1165 schools in GA and only 9 of them are Dual Language.


The school offers both traditional and Dual Language Option. Some terms seem to be used interchangeably...Dual Language, Dual Immersion, Bi-lingual immersion. Take you pick. If you are an expert in this area feel free to correct me. I am learning too so as I catch my mistakes I will correct them.  I think the term used depends on how the program is formatted. First of all, you have to know they are NOT teaching my son Spanish. Nor are they teaching the native Spanish speakers English. The language is acquired out of necessity. The brains natural survival kicks in and these kids supposedly just pick up on the language. Very much the same way we learn to speak our native language. The only difference really is at the end of the day they go home to speak their native language. They are still learning so much about their own language it is the perfect to insert a foreign language. All stuff I have read about. His class is divided into half native English Speakers and half native Spanish speakers. This way no one group had advantage over the other. The children are taught the same material as any other Kindergarten class. The first half of the day the teacher speaks English while teaching Reading, Writing, and Phonics. She will also teach Spanish alphabet and sounds during this time The other half of the day the teacher speaks in Spanish while teaching Math, Social Studies, and Science. From what I understand the teacher switches with the other class so they are in a Spanish classroom. I have told Mason to listen and use his other senses to understand. Watch what the other kids do when given commands. I spent a lot of time preparing him for Kindergarten but not this. I read that there isn't anything you need to do to prepare them for a DL program. Only support them once in it. I mostly just try to inform him what to expect. And that seems to work for him. The kids are not restricted to speak English and ask questions during the Spanish half of the day. From what I understand they still have to say things in English till the English speakers get the hang of things and vice versa. All of the standardized state test are given in English. So what happens after Elementary school? Well the first group of kids to participate in the DL program just finished the 5th grade and are moving on to middle school. Just for them, the county has decided to dedicate one of the near by middle schools as a continuation. I read in the news paper that due to the nature of middle school and how they have to change classes so much that they are unable to implement a full DL program but they will offer advanced Spanish instruction to them at a Sophomore level. The point is to keep it going. I believe the old saying is, "If you don't use it you loose it". 

So far Mason's teacher is new this year. However, she was a student teacher at his school, in the DL program, so she is familiar with it. She is a native English Speaker with a degree in education and a minor in Spanish. Which amazes me that she picked up on it so fast. Of course I don't know all of her history so I'm just speculating. The other DL teacher for Kindergarten is of Latina decent so I speculate that she is fully bi-lingual. All of her emails to the parents have been in English and Spanish. Any flyers or forms the school gives out is in both languages. From what we were told in a recent newsletter, Homework will involve writing letters in both languages. The family doesn't have to know any Spanish. The children will know how to do their homework. And parents will be told what the children need to do in their native language. When I get better at this blogging thing I will post brochures and newsletters so you guys can see examples of the stuff we receive. I'm trying to avoid naming the school for privacy purposes and will block out that info on anything I upload. I'm still learning how to use this Blogger site.

School stared August 6th. So they have been learning a lot of procedures this week and routine. Tomorrow August 18th they begin their immersion. I will keep you updated on Mason's progress. And things I learn. How I feel. How he feels. I will post what I can. Feel free to ask me questions about anything. I am trying to stay on subject. Please, do not comment on my religious or political views it's not what's important about this blog. Any glimpse of personal information I reveal is to help support my perception on the experience. If there is anything I am not covering about this topic or you would like me to include let me know and I will do my best. Some of you may want to know about Kindergarten in general without the Spanish information. I'm hoping to update this about every two weeks or at least monthly.