Dual-language programs promote diversity, bilingualism and are gaining popularity.
On one of the first days of class at Dos Puentes Elementary School in Upper Manhattan last month, a new student named Michelle peered up through pale blue glasses and took a deep breath.
“Can I drink water?” Michelle, 6, said.
“Diga en Español,” her first-grade teacher, Rebeca Madrigal, answered.
Michelle paused.
“Can I drink agua?” she replied.
It was a start.
Dos Puentes, a three-year-old school in the Washington Heights neighborhood, is a dual-language program, which means that subjects, like reading and math, are taught in two languages with the goal of making students bilingual. Once seen as a novelty, dual-language programs are now coming into favor as a boon to both native and nonnative English speakers, and in areas around the country their numbers have been exploding.
In New York City, there were 39 new or expanded dual-language programs this year, in addition to an increase of about 25 programs two years ago. Languages offered now include Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian-Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Russian, as well as dozens that teach in Spanish.
In Utah, 9 percent of the state’s public elementary students are enrolled in dual-language programs. In Portland, Ore., 10 percent of all students, and nearly one in five kindergartners, participate. Statewide efforts to increase the number of programs, and expand access to them, are underway in states such as Delaware and North Carolina.
Read the entire article on the New York Times website.
