GILROY
– Las Animas teachers and staff are gearing up for an expanded
version of Gilroy Unified School District’s only bilingual program,
despite the lean-budget times the rest of the district is bracing
for.
GILROY – Las Animas teachers and staff are gearing up for an expanded version of Gilroy Unified School District’s only bilingual program, despite the lean-budget times the rest of the district is bracing for.
Principal Sylvia Reyes said this week the Las Animas dual immersion program will expand to third grade for 2003-04. The program, which instructs students in English for one half of the day and Spanish the other half, currently serves kindergarten through second-grade students.
“The program runs on federal funds and we’re in the second year of a three-year grant, so the state cuts shouldn’t hurt us much,” Reyes said. “We’ve been establishing the program over the last two years and we believe after the grant runs out this program will be pretty self-sustaining.”
On Feb. 25 and 27, the school will hold information nights on the dual immersion program. Any Gilroy elementary student in grades kindergarten through third grade next year can enroll.
The sessions begin at 6 p.m. The Feb. 25 meeting will be in Spanish, the Feb. 27 meeting is in English.
Because Las Animas is the only program of its kind in GUSD, some students figure to be wait-listed. Also complicating matters is that classes must be comprised of one-third Spanish-only speakers, one-third English-only speakers and one-third English learners.
Nonetheless, Las Animas has been able to fill each of the eligible grades with two classes of 20 kids. It expects to do the same in 2003-04 with the incoming kindergartners.
One of those students is Allita Watkins, a first-grader whose mother Sharon Watkins wanted her child to be proficient in two languages.
“It just gives her more options in life, professionally and academically. It can make her life more enjoyable.” Watkins said. “So many people in other countries can speak English. I think it’s a kind of handicap that this country isn’t bilingual, too.”
The dual immersion curriculum, like that of any other GUSD class, is based on the state’s academic standards. The only difference between it and a regular class, essentially, is that half the time a foreign language is used by one of the two teachers assigned to each class.
“What we’re doing here is developing a student for the 21st century,” Reyes said.
