Las Animas bilingual program now offered at South Valley
School
Gilroy – Parents wearing “support Dual Immersion” name tags clapped and cheered after the Gilroy Unified School District board of trustees unanimously approved expansion of the bilingual program to South Valley Middle School at Thursday’s meeting.
The Dual Immersion program was first offered to 20 students at San Ysidro Elementary School – now closed – during the 2000-2001 school year. The program was moved to Las Animas Elementary School in 2002.
Parents, teachers and administrators rallied to bring the program to the middle school so students would have the chance to continue their Spanish/English education until high school.
Although the students are taught lessons by bilingual teachers in English and Spanish, DI should not be confused with the bilingual programs of the past which emphasized learning English instead of embracing both languages, said GUSD Assistant Superintendent Jacki Horejs.
The objective of Las Animas’ program, which is comprised of about 200 English-only and Spanish-only speakers, is to produce bilingual students and prevent them from losing their native tongue, she said.
The 200 or so Las Animas students participating in the program are taught the same content in both English and Spanish. During the meeting parent group who staged the presentation showed data that DI students scored higher than the district as a whole and Las Animas on the California Standards Test in English language arts and math.
Parents said they wanted to expand the program to South Valley because it promotes bilingualism, bi-literacy, gives students the option of learning a third language in high school and increased career opportunities.
