More dual language options for U-46 students

Beginning next year, Elgin Area School District U-46 will offer greater opportunities for elementary school students to learn both English and Spanish.

The dual language program will now consist of a one-way dual language program, available only for Spanish speaking students who are learning English. That program will be offered at 29 elementary schools. Six of those schools — as well as Channing Elementary School in Elgin — will offer a two-way dual language enrichment program for English speakers. In the two-way classes, English speaking students will join Spanish speaking students as they work to become biliterate.

“The interest in dual language is inspiring,” U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres said in a news release. “There has been a lot of community conversation regarding the dual language model that we will be offering.”

Torres said 82 English-speaking families and 103 Spanish-speaking families with students enrolled in kindergarten and the first grade have committed to the two-way bilingual program.

Under the district’s current bilingual model, once students obtain proficiency in English, they are able to test into English-only classes. Under the new model being adopted next year, those students may choose to remain in the dual language program, said Patricia Makishima, the district’s dual language coordinator.

“This is still a dual language program, but the goal is to have students become bilingual and biliterate,” Makishima said. “They develop both languages and then maintain both languages. Right now, they transition after the third grade, which is good, but they are losing all of the Spanish they have been working on in the primary grades.”

Students enrolled in the district’s English Language Learners program will see a change in instruction, as kindergarten and first-grade students will receive 80 percent of their instruction in Spanish and 20 percent in English, Makishima said. The percentage of English instruction increases until the third grade when students will receive half of their instruction in Spanish and half in English.

The six new two-way dual language schools will continue to serve students who live within their attendance boundaries. However, Channing Elementary School will continue to be an option for English-speaking students who do not live within the attendance zone of a school that offers the two-way dual language option.

The district, which serves about 8,600 bilingual students across all grades, exceeded state goals in English language learning and proficiency last year, according to a report from the Illinois State Board of Education.