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BERWYN – Berwyn South School District 100 recently announced it will launch its new dual-language program at Emerson Elementary School when the school’s fall semester begins Aug. 24.
The program will begin at the kindergarten level and will be expanded to the first grade next year.
Additionally, the program will begin in Komensky and Hiawatha schools for the 2016-17 school year.
According to a District 100 news release, students benefit from the program by being able to speak, read and write fluently in English and Spanish and increase their academic achievement when enrolled long term in the program.
The bilingual program also is expected to increase cultural awareness and appreciation of diversity, boost social and emotional well-being, and increase the level of cognitive capacity and critical thinking skills, according to the release.
The program was developed by an advisory group composed of members of the community and District 100 staff.
Beatrice Maldonado, principal at Emerson Elementary School and chairman of the Bilingual District Advisory Committee on Educational Excellence, said the group studied bilingual programs from around the country for a year to come up with their own program.
“We wanted to make sure we had a quality program,” Maldonado said. “We looked at our English-language learner data and we wanted to develop a program that would benefit them. Our students weren’t learning English at a rate we wanted them to learn at. We looked at many programs. We found, based on data, that a dual-language program worked best. Then they would be proficient in two languages.”
To people who say students should be learning English only, Maldonado said learning both languages at the same time makes students better speakers in both languages.
“They learn both languages at a proficient level by fifth grade,” she said. “It takes anywhere from five to seven years to learn a language, according to research. If you offer the program longer, they get more proficient.”