TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Some students in Twin Falls will have the opportunity to learn subjects like math, English and science in two languages at once.
The Twin Falls School District introduced its dual language immersion program back in the spring and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday to kick start the new program. The dual immersion program students will be at Oregon Trail Elementary School.
The first group to experience the program will be kindergarten and first-grade students. They will be taught half of each day in Spanish and the other half of the day in English.
"So, there are a total of 44 kids at each grade level. 22 kids are with a Spanish-speaking teacher, 22 kids are with the English-speaking teacher,” Oregon Trail Elementary School Principal, Tyler Matlock said. “They Flip halfway through the day to get instruction in the other language."
As these students get older, they will add another grade level up to the fifth grade ending with a total of 12 total dual language classes.
"After that, there is a commitment by the school district to have a plan for the middle schoolers and high schoolers,” Matlock said. “That plan won't look exactly like it does here at the elementary level, because in middle school, you have credits and different classes and things like that."
The school looked at other dual immersion programs to see what would work best, including Magic Valley neighbor Jerome.
"Jerome already has a well-established program," Elementary Programs Director at Oregon Trail, Jennie Peterson said. "Working with them on what worked for you and where can we make sure that we're not stepping into some of those things that may have been challenges."
The goal of the program is for the students to read, write and speak Spanish and English fluently by the time they graduate high school.
"From a global perspective, we're also looking at how effective it is for students to gain jobs,” Peterson said. “You know, obviously, if you're fluent in two languages, you're biliterate in two languages, you're going to be more employable."
Matlock added cross-cultural competencies is another benefit, since there is a "significant number of Spanish-speaking families" across the Magic Valley area, including Twin Falls.
“We'll make decisions about whether or not we expand the program so that Oregon Trail could become a fully bilingual, dual immersion school,” Matlock said.
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