[EDLING:643] Language classes to get nueva casa

[Francis M. Hult]

The Daily Sentinel

Language classes to get nueva casa

Sunday, February 06, 2005

By SALLY SPAULDING

If all goes as planned, a new community center may not be the only addition to
the Riverside neighborhood. The Dual Immersion Academy, a school that teaches
children in both English and Spanish, may be moving from its series of modular
classrooms to a brand new building next door to the old Riverside School.

“The goal is to be in a new building within the 2005-06 school year,” said
Jeff Kirtland, spokesman for School District 51. “At this point, the new
building will just be classrooms, but hopefully activities such as a gym and
cafeteria will be housed at the new community center when it is built.”

While the school needs 22,000 square feet to operate, the district will build
15,000 solely for classroom space and house the rest of the activities, such
as a computer center and dining space, at the new community center.

The district will not use money from the recent $109 million bond and already
owns the property where the school will be built.

Marilyn Connor, principal of the academy, said the Riverside site was ideal
for the school’s permanent location.

The school, which caters to families who like the idea of children learning a
second language or maintaining their language skills in Spanish, fits with the
multicultural background of the neighborhood it hopes to call home.

“Not only would the area be enhanced to have a new school, but also the school
would honor the history and integrity of the area. We want our school children
to be biliterate, bicultural and bilingual,” Connor said.

Mesa County School District 51 will build its dual language school in the
field area just west of the Riverside School. The 3-year-old school is now
housed behind New Emerson School.

The curriculum differs from other local schools, dividing children
into “English dominant” and “Spanish dominant” classifications.

For some course work, only English is spoken. In other sections, only Spanish.
Children are often separated into “dominant only” sections or can be shuffled
into mixed groups of English and Spanish dominance.

“They really help each other to learn,” Connor said. “The young children can
learn in both languages and make the switch easily.”

There are two teachers for each grade level, one English dominant and one
Spanish dominant, who coordinate each day’s activities. The teachers only
speak their dominant language while teaching.

Teaching only in Spanish requires a broad depth of language skills, so only
native or like-native speakers are on staff.

Patricio Serrano teaches second grade at the academy and estimated he spent
about 75 percent to 80 percent more time preparing for classes than other
teachers in the district.

“I like working with a staff that’s dedicated to working together,” he
said, “but it takes a lot more time trying to teach like this.”

Currently the school offers kindergarten through second grade, but it will add
third grade next year and continue adding grades each year until fifth grade.

The school always has a waiting list for English-dominant children who want to
enroll, but Spanish dominant children are almost always needed, Connor said.


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