Our PSUSD Language Academy program offers bilingualism and biliteracy
Most young children can master multiple languages relatively easily if given the proper tools and setting. Parents of children who will be entering transitional kindergarten or kindergarten in the 2023-24 school year are provided the opportunity to learn, read and write fluently in both English and Spanish through the Palm Springs Unified School District’s “Dual Immersion” program at Vista del Monte Elementary School.
Now in its eighth year, the PSUSD Language Academy provides both English and Spanish-speaking students the opportunity to learn to read, write and communicate proficiently and achieve bilingualism and biliteracy in both languages. The program begins with transitional kindergarten and continues each year. Our first group of dual immersion students are now in seventh grade at Raymond Cree Middle School.
When they graduate from Palm Springs High School, they will receive a State Seal of Biliteracy on their diploma.
The benefits of being biliterate positively affect students’ cognitive abilities and facilitate cross-cultural communication and experiences. In the Dual Immersion program, students participate in not only academic but enrichment activities as well. Walking into a third or fourth grade class and seeing and hearing the teacher and students conversing without hesitation in both languages is what happens through the process.
Language Academy students often outperform their peers in the areas of self-confidence, expression and standardized test scores.
Once they enter sixth grade at Cree, Language Academy students will have science instruction in Spanish, along with Spanish Language Arts, while the other core content classes and physical education are taught in English. When they get to Palm Springs High, they have the option of taking Spanish 4 or Literature Honors for Spanish Speakers in ninth grade and AP Language in 10th grade. As juniors, they can take AP Literature or begin a third language program.
While the program is currently housed at Vista del Monte Elementary, it is open to all Palm Springs Unified students with transportation available from school sites in both Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City. PSUSD Board of Education members are committed to expanding the program to a second location in the 2024-25 school year, and surveys will be conducted at the beginning of next school year to determine the best location for that expansion.
Information meetings are scheduled at 5 p.m. April 17 at Bella Vista Elementary, May 2 at Two Bunch Palms Elementary and May 15 at Vista del Monte Elementary. All of those meetings will be held in person or via zoom at this link: https://PSUSD-US.ZOOM.US/J/84975229230. More information is available at http://www.psusd.us/vdmes or by calling Vista del Monte Elementary Principal Jamie Santos at (760) 416-8176 or via email at jsantos@psusd.us.
Mark Arnold is the executive director of student learning for Palm Springs Unified School District. He can be reached at marnold@psusd.us.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Our PSUSD Language Academy program offers bilingualism and biliteracy
