DeKalb schools showcase language learning in bilingual classrooms

DeKALB – Knowing more than one language is a value that Joette Ball cherishes.

English may be the primary language in her home, but the DeKalb resident said she’s always prized the importance of bilingualism.

“It’s not a hobby, it’s a skill,” Ball said.

Ball has two children who are enrolled in DeKalb School District 428‘s two-way dual-language program for the 2025-26 school year.

The program first got its start in 2020 after two years of planning and school board support.

According to its vision statement, the program strives to support students “to reach high levels of bilingualism, biliteracy, and to obtain the academic and cross-cultural competency necessary in order to meet the demands of career and college readiness.”

Dual-language program teacher Bobbi Stears teaches fourth grade at Cortland Elementary School. She said the program accomplishes this aim by promoting a collaborative learning environment where English and Spanish speakers can work together.

“We combine science with reading in fourth grade,” Stears said. “Our students have bilingual buddies, which have Spanish-leading students and English-leading students paired up so they can help each other. In my classroom, the kids who are more Spanish dominant are helping the kids who are learning Spanish.”

Instruction for half of students’ days in a dual-language classroom is in English. The other half of their day together is in Spanish.

Stears said the power of the program is impactful to see.

“And halfway through the day, we switch our kids, and I take the other homeroom and I teach them Spanish, while my homeroom goes over and learns English with their English-speaking teacher,” Stears said. “It’s the same thing. They have the same buddies, but now those students who are English leading are helping out the Spanish-leading students, and they’re doing math and literacy through social studies over there.”

“Everything is so hands-on that the kids are just moving and learning all day long. It doesn’t really look like traditional school.”

Ball said she’s enjoyed having her daughter in the program the past three years so much that she’s enrolled her son for the coming year, too.

“When I found out about the program, I knew that I wanted both of them in it,” Ball said.

The program is contained to three buildings, with two sections in each school up through fourth grade, officials said. There are more than 500 participating students this year.

AJ Crook, the district’s multicultural programs coordinator, said her favorite part about the program is seeing how student-centered it is.

“I love seeing the students working together in those bilingual pairs,” Crook said. “Everything is so hands-on that the kids are just moving and learning all day long. It doesn’t really look like traditional school.”

Crook said she sees the program as increasing the cross-cultural relevancy and dexterity of the district’s students.

Ball said her daughter’s participation in the program has been going well.

“She speaks more of the Spanish at school when prompted,” Ball said. “She’s still kind of nervous about how she sounds or from making a mistake, but from my understanding, that’s pretty common until about fourth grade.”

Bilingualism runs in the Ball family.

Ball said she and her sisters all know sign language from having taken coursework during their time in high school.

“My sister is an interpreter, and my other sister and I both graduated all four years for sign language,” she said.

If there’s anything she is hoping her children take away from the program, Ball said it comes down to an appreciation for cultural diversity.

“I hope [my daughter] learns about the culture and the importance of being bilingual, and understanding that backgrounds and languages don’t need to separate us,” Ball said.