DUAL LANGUAGE IMMERSION
Beginning in August 2016, Eisenhower launched its Dual Language Immersion program, offering students in Kindergarten and immersive experience in both English and Spanish languages. Students enrolled in DLI spend half of their school day with a Spanish-speaking teacher and the other half with the partner English-speaking teacher. Rather than learn Spanish through Spanish language lessons, the Spanish-speaking teacher develops students’ Spanish literacy through the Kindergarten content. We have modeled our DLI program after the Utah Department of Education’s state-funded program, and we utilize their research-based model, resources, and best practices. In 2019-2020, our 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade DLI students took their first standardized Spanish proficiency assessment, and, collectively, they outperformed the required benchmarks in listening, speaking, reading, and writing!
The continued success of Eisenhower’s DLI program is a result of the ongoing commitment and efforts of WCS’ school board, its administrators, the DLI teachers and support staff, and the students and families.
