TWIN FALLS — Some students in town will soon have an opportunity to learn subjects in two languages at once, as Oregon Trail Elementary School is poised to introduce a dual-immersion program in the fall.
The program will see instruction split during the day, with half of each day taught entirely in English and half entirely taught in Spanish. The program will take 44 students in each class, split 50/50 between English speakers and Spanish speakers.
As a result of the combined classes and classmates, the whole group of students will be practically fluent in both languages by third grade.
Program Coordinator Jennie Peterson told the Times-News that dual immersion at a young age benefits young minds, improves academic performance, and ultimately produces graduates who are highly sought after for their abilities.
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“It allows for more flexible thinking in our students so they’re a lot more pliable in moving back and forth between different concepts,” Peterson told the Times-News. “Having another language … it springboards them into a more creative thinking or a critical thinking. (We hope that) by the time they’re going into the secondary that they’re bi-literate, can move back and forth between both languages, which makes them a lot more employable, desirable outside of this.”
Oregon Trail Principal Tyler Matlock said the idea came from the recognition that the school’s population was already regularly exposed to Spanish. Between students, their families, teachers, and administration, a lot of the school is speaking Spanish on a daily basis.
“We thought, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of Spanish already happening here,’” Matlock told the Times-News. “What would traditionally be seen as a disadvantage — a lot of kids coming in with English as a second language — how can we turn this into an advantage?”
The idea started as a seed in 2019. The project was put on hold when schools shut down due to COVID.
Now that the pandemic’s effect on operations has lifted, the project has been moving through the planning phases to get it ready for fall 2023.
Before being elected to the school board, Eric Smallwood was aware of Matlock’s interest in a dual immersion program.
“The one thing that I wanted to implement when I joined the school board was a dual immersion program,” Smallwood told the Times-News. “We’re setting kids up to succeed in a world that’s increasingly populated by Hispanic culture. This program will give so many of our students the lifetime ability to participate in culture and commerce.”
The program will be open to any Twin Falls School District student, and parents in the community have already been expressing interest. Information and the application process have been posted on the school district’s website. A lottery will be held in June, but to be eligible parents must attend one of two parent forums taking place on March 30 and May 11.
The idea of dual immersion has gained momentum in Idaho and across the country. In 2005, there were 450 dual-immersion programs nationwide. By 2021, the number of programs had grown to 3,600. In Idaho, programs are in place in Blaine, Jerome, Teton, Nampa, Boise, and Jefferson counties.
Matlock said programs like this have been shown to benefit speakers of both languages.
“This is the best service that we have for our Spanish-speaking, English-language learners,” Matlock said. “It will serve them better than any other service we’ve been able to provide up until this point, so both groups will benefit greatly from this program.”
English speakers learning a second language at an early age have access to a much broader world of opportunities than the average students who might not have a chance to learn a second language until later in life.
“The native English speakers will be connected to a community and culture they otherwise would not have that language connection,” Matlock said. “There’s an entire culture in Twin Falls and the Magic Valley that a whole chunk of our population has no connection to, so it will build bridges and be a connecting factor for the whole community.”
Matlock said he’s already looking forward to seeing what students achieve through the program.
“That first day of school and I walk into a classroom where everyone is speaking Spanish — or when a native English-speaking kid asks me a question in Spanish,” Matlock said. “Those will be the moments I look forward to.”