GOSHEN — Two kindergarten teachers will pair up in a dual language immersion program at Waterford Elementary School for the first time in the Goshen Community Schools Corp.
The program will be a two-way immersion, which means one teacher teaches all of the English and the other teaches all of the Spanish, according to Waterford Elementary Principal Katrina Overton.
Twenty-five students will start in one classroom until lunch and recess, then they will flip to the other classroom and the other 25 students will do the same, Overton added.
“You only speak English in the English classroom and you speak only Spanish in the Spanish classroom,” Overton said. “The parents were given the information last spring by the district and given a choice if they wanted their child to participate in the dual-language program.”
As part of a dual language immersion pilot program grant through the Indiana Department of Education, Waterford Elementary was awarded a $50,000 implementation grant in their second year of funding after a planning year grant was given for the 2016-2017 school year.
“This is exciting. We are excited. Our parents are very excited,” Overton said. “We had a meeting in May with our parents that were enrolled (for the dual language immersion classes) and gave them a taste of what it will be like to be a dual-language student. We had lots of positive comments about that evening and they got to meet the other parents, as well and was good opportunity to begin to connect (for parents.)”
The kindergarten teachers for the dual-language program include English teacher Courtney Gordon and Karina Ortega, Spanish teacher.
As the English teacher, Gordon will focus on reading, writing and reinforcing math since math will be taught in the Spanish classroom.
“But I pick up on the skills and the language to make sure they are hearing it in English,” Gordon said.
Ortega will teach Spanish as the target language along with math, science and social studies time.
The kindergartners will have a full day between the two classrooms but the curriculum mirrors the general education classrooms, according to master teacher Julea Ciesielski.
“They will have a reading block, writer's workshop, math block, science and social studies, so the day and the concept are tied across the grade level. It’s just the language that will change,” Ciesielski said.
Ciesielski prepared the schedule for the dual language immersion as well as helping to plan for all students within the building to participate in cultural immersion through the arts including music, physical education, art, computer and library.
“We will focus and embrace the Hispanic culture,” Ciesielski said.
The program provides other exciting aspects, including tapping into resources from the community and providing future opportunities, the principal added.
“Karena is from our community. She graduated from Goshen College and this is her first year teaching,” Overton said. “We are trying to work to build and use those resources in our community to really grow our kids. When kids begin the dual-immersion program in kindergarten and graduate from high school, they are two college courses away from having a minor in Spanish. We will be taking our kids through it and for them to be able to read, speak and write fluently in a second language is amazing. By the time our kids graduate from Goshen High School, they will be able to have that (second language) and that will be an amazing opportunity for our community and for them. The possibilities are endless with a second language.”
West Noble Primary School, part of the West Noble School Corp., was among 10 school corporations along with Waterford Elementary School that were selected through a competitive grant process for funding from the IDOE for the dual language immersion pilot program, according to a press release.
West Noble Primary School received $50,000 for the first year of the dual language immersion program and will teach Spanish, the release stated.
Sherry Van Arsdall can be reached at sherry.vanarsdall@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 317. Follow Sherry on Twitter @svanarsdall_TGN
