"We believe that the teacher MUST know & care about the learner. It is the teachers job to find out the learning style and interests of the students.
...they must find out what the learner CAN do."
New Language Immersion Program
New Language Immersion Program to be Offered Fall 2008 in the Sioux Falls Public School District
An exciting second language program is available in the Sioux Falls School District to kindergarten-age students. Starting in the fall of 2008, the District will offer a class for English-speaking students who are interested in receiving the majority of their subject-matter instruction in Spanish. This approach, known as language immersion, has been successfully used in many states as well as other countries.
In an immersion program, all of the classroom instruction occurs in the second language, Spanish. Rather than the language being the topic of instruction, it is the method of instruction. Students learn to read, write, and speak the second language with amazing proficiency and with no detriment to their own English language skills.
Why Immersion? Why learn a second language when young?
Especially when introduced in the early elementary school years, students experience additional benefits of increased cognitive skills, higher achievement in other academic areas, and higher standardized test scores." Janice Stewart, educational research analyst, 2005.
"Exposure to another language system leaves children "with a mental flexibility, superiority in concept formation, and a more diversified set of mental abilities." Wilburn Robinson (1992)
Anyone interested in learning more about the Spanish Immersion Program can contact the following persons:
June Gaston, Rosa Parks Principal (371-4170)
Rich Meier, Elementary Curriculum Coordinator (367-7946).
Shannon Graber, a parent advocate and former immersion teacher, (339-7666)
Websites on Second Language Learning and Immersion:
Dates and Times:
Tuesday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m.
OR
Monday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Location:
Rosa Parks Elementary School
5701 E. Red Oak Drive
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New Language Immersion Program
An exciting second language program is available in the Sioux Falls School District to kindergarten-age students, starting in the fall of 2008.
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