HAMMOND — A sign may not seem like much.
But for a child entering a school for the first time from a different country, a different culture, that sign might mean the world.
Irving Elementary and the School City of Hammond on Thursday unveiled signs reflecting the school's Dual Language Immersion Program. In addition to the large unveiled letters outside, 200 signs inside Irving are now in English, Spanish, and Braille.
“This is a great opportunity for our children to learn two languages,” said Fabiola Gonzalez, the mother of one child in DLI. She came to this country from Mexico.
Irving becomes the first school in the largest school district in Northwest Indiana to display multilingual signage throughout the building, but Superintendent Scott Miller would like to see similar signage system-wide.
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"This is an act of love from us to you,” Miller said, adding that the signs were “a really great idea and easy to approve.”
The school system established the first DLIP in Lake County at Irving’s kindergarten and first grade during the 2019-20 school year. Each year, as the program grows, another grade level is added, with two fifth-grade classrooms to be added next year.
For newcomers to this country and the English language, Miller said, the signage “really goes a long way. We want to be a welcoming school to our families. We want you to feel welcome.”
With 11,000 students, Miller said 48% are Hispanic, 32% African-American and 12% Caucasian. The superintendent noted that Hispanic students represent the largest growing ethnicity is the school system.
DLIP is designed to develop high linguistic and academic proficiency in both English and Spanish.
Irving is Hammond’s largest elementary school with 767 students, 65% of whom, Principal Sarah Kilander reported, are Hispanic.
This two-way immersion program combines two groups of students, each with different home languages. About half begin DLIP as English-only speakers; the other half as Spanish-only speakers.
As Ana Verduzco, Hammond DLIP director, explained, while the teacher is teaching Spanish, native Spanish speakers support the English speakers. When the teacher is working in English, native English speakers support the native Spanish-speaking students.
Verduzco said she would like to see the program reach the high school level.
“The program’s overall goal is to improve student performance for both our English learners and native English speakers,” the program director said. “We firmly believe that by implementing a solid DLI two-way program, it will help in closing the achievement gap for our students who are identified as ‘at risk.’”
Anhtony Salinas, director of elementary education for the school system, added that in addition to students acquiring a bilingual base, “they are learning another way to think.”
As noted in a press release, DLIP seeks to “ensure that all students reach high levels of academic achievement; develop biliteracy and bilingualism; and cultivate global competency in order to thrive in a multicultural society … become cross-cultural ambassadors for school, community, and society.”
Verduzco said the signage “sends a message that the School City of Hammond is bilingual and bicultural.”
Cortina Nelson, an African-American mother of one child in the program, called DLIP “quite an experience … quite an honor,” and encouraged other parents to “give it a try.”
Stephanie Vargas, the school’s physical education instructor, has two sons in DLIP. A native English speaker, Vargas called the immersion “a wonderful program that challenges students.”
Vargas added that she has not seen any decline in her sons’ English.
“Kids get so much more,” the mother said, “and it means so much more to them.”