History
The changing Hispanic demographics in Denton mandated that a bilingual program be implemented, not only at our school but at several other Denton schools. Nette Shultz (previously Woodrow Wilson) became a bilingual campus in 2001. Several years after becoming a bilingual campus, the Campus Leadership Team met, discussed, and saw the interest among administration, teachers and parents to implement a Dual Language program. Extensive research and planning was done in order to identify, select, and effectively implement a Dual Language program. Shultz piloted the Two-Way Dual Language Program in the 2006-2007 school year with the implementation of a kindergarten strand.
What is a Dual Language Enrichment Program?
Dual Language programs are not new in this country, but the interest in Dual Language education has increased dramatically in the last fifteen years, according to Virginia P. Collier, professor of Bilingual/ESL education, George Mason University. In a two-way Dual Language program all students are learning a new language. In a Dual Language program, students learn academic and cognitive skills at grade level while they acquire another language. The goal of the Dual Language program is for students to become biliterate by the end of fifth grade. It is considered an educational enrichment program. There is a mixture of native English speakers and native Spanish speakers in the classroom. The students have two teachers instead of one homeroom teacher and they will switch out 50 percent of the instructional time. One teacher instructs certain content areas only in English while the other instructs only in Spanish. The direction of language learning is two-way because about half of the students are adding English while the other half are adding Spanish. A benefit of a Two-Way Dual Language program is that classes include half native speakers of each language who can serve as models for the language. The students can also come to know and embrace each other’s different cultural backgrounds.
The Dual Language program is a program of choice that promotes the students towards becoming bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural. It is funded by Title I funds and is offered at no expense to the parents of students. The model that we follow allows for the languages to be divided by subject. In kindergarten and 1st grade, language arts is taught in the students dominant language while math is taught in English and science and social studies is taught in Spanish. For 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade, language arts is taught half in English and half in Spanish, math is taught in English, with science and social studies instruction in Spanish. In 5th grade, language arts is taught in English and Spanish, math and science is taught in English, and social studies continues in Spanish. Dual language teachers teach the same standards taught in traditional classrooms.