“It’s
shortsighted not to think Spanish will be useful in the world
we live in,” Grovich added.
Desert
Willow is accepting applications for its Spanish Immersion Preschool
program 2007‑2008. The preschool program started in the
fall of 2006. The school offers partial immersion programs for
some of its first‑ through fourth‑grade classes.
Current participants will go on to fifth‑grade immersion
classes next year.
Students
in the partial immersion classes learn their curriculum in Spanish
half the day and in English the other half.
The
programs are designed specifically to teach students a second
language, not to make it easier for non‑English speaking
children to enter school. All students who enroll in the classes
must speak English, but can be bilingual. Of the 30 families
with children enrolled in the current preschool classes, six
started the program with bilingual skills.
Arizona
State University has operated a Spanish immersion preschool
for four years, said Chari Woodward, director of the Mary Lou
Fulton College of Education preschool at ASU. Currently, no
program is operating.
Woodward
said having an equal number of Spanish and English speaking
students who teach each other the language as they interact
is most effective.
Research
shows speaking a second language is really good for brain development,
said Jenny Stahl, Child’s Play Preschool Director at Desert
Willow. It brings a student’s intelligence to a higher level.
They generally have higher test scores and their ability to
verbalize increases.
“It
also provides anti‑bias education for kids,” Woodward
said.
She
said her nephew attended a language immersion preschool and
as a result, he is less wary of people who speak another language.
Parents say it really makes a difference in their children’s
education.
“My
son is in Cub Scouts and we do a lot of rummage sales in other
parts of the city and run into Spanish‑speaking people,”
said Trish Doran, mother of a second‑ and third‑graders
in the immersion programs. “It kind of opens their eyes to other
cultures.”
The
school’s immersion programs are going very well, Miller said,
Fourth‑graders understand everything in Spanish and they
are quite verbal. And, it raises their self‑esteem.
“Parents
understand the world is changing,” Miller said. “It is more
necessary (than ever) when a student graduates from school to
know another language. A second language also prepares students
for additional vocations.”
Second
language immersion programs are popular in other parts of the
country, she added. For example, schools in the Northeast offer
French‑as‑second language programs. Cave Creek Unified
School District modeled its program after a Utah school curriculum.
For
more information contact the school at (480) 575‑2440.
