Dual Language Immersion Program
St. Philomene School is pleased to offer Dual Language Immersion for the 2023-2024 school year for Transitional Kindergarten through Fifth grade in both English and Spanish.
An additional grade will be added yearly, ie, 2024-2025 Sixth grade will be Dual Language Immersion and so on.
In Dual Language Immersion, students spend half of the day learning their core curriculum in English and half of the day learning their core curriculum in Spanish. By being taught not just language fundamentals but academic subjects, students gain both languages.
In addition, by learning two languages (English and Spanish) at an early age, studies show that our students are more likely to master both languages. The benefits of Dual Language Immersion are for both native English and Spanish speakers alike. Dual Language Immersion prepares students for the 21st century world.
Not only is St. Philomene School the only Catholic Elementary School in the Diocese of Sacramento to offer Spanish Dual Language Immersion, we are also one of the few Catholic Schools offering this highly regarded program across the country.
Would you like your child to:
- Be a bilingual speaker?
- Learn our curriculum while developing bilingual skills?
- Read and write in both English and Spanish?
- Develop greater understanding of both cultures?
Benefits of Dual Language Immersion
- Language proficiency in both English and Spanish
- Improved communication ability
- Enhanced listening skills
- Exceed performance standards of solo language learners
- Increased problem solving skills
- Greater cultural appreciation
- More prepared for global culture and market
Dual Language Immersion Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Immersion programs serve students of all backgrounds and levels of academic ability. Academic challenges do not preclude students from success in immersion and they achieve higher levels of proficiency in their second language.
The key aspect of Dual Immersion is that students do not just learn a language but learn to think in that language. The learning takes place in a different cultural environment, so everyday learning takes place as if the student was in another country. Thus, the student’s language becomes not just functional but second nature.
Immersion students do not lose any appreciation for their first language culture. Immersion programs are associated with a higher level of understanding and tolerance with the second language.
Every child learns differently whether they are learning in English or Spanish. The amount of time it takes for a student to be fully fluent will depend on the student’s learning patterns, behavior and environment. Our teacher will work with every student to insure that they are learning at their unique optimum level.
Although the second language will be spoken extensively in school, it is necessary for Immersion student’s to interact with native speakers outside of the classroom if they want to achieve native-like competence including fixing grammatical errors, increased vocabulary and idioms.
Dual Language Immersion Research
- Two new studies demonstrate that multilingual exposure improves not only children’s cognitive skills but also their social abilities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/the-superior-social-skills-of-bilinguals.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share - Dual language learning has been found to be the only method of second language acquisition to facilitate the full closure of the achievement gap between English learners and English speakers in primary and secondary education.
http://www.thomasandcollier.com/assets/jncl-nclis-white-paper-on-dual-language-education.pdf - Students in schools following this model are achieving high levels of academic proficiency in reading and mathematics
https://www.utb.edu/vpaa/coe/Documents/CI%20Yvonne%20Freeman%20Documents/YFreeman20Dual_2005.pdf - Students who participate in these programs gain grade level academic ability, well-developed language and literacy skills in two languages, and cross-cultural competence.
http://www.cal.org/twi/toolkit/PI/Basics_Eng.pdf - People who regularly use two languages tend to perform better on executive function tasks and maintain better cognitive functioning with age.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2011/06/06/5-reasons-love-dual-language-immersion-programs - Multilingualism has been shown to have many social, psychological and lifestyle advantages. Moreover, researchers are finding a swathe of health benefits from speaking more than one language, including faster stroke recovery and delayed onset of dementia.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual?ocid=ww.social.link.email