Academics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Spanish Immersion Program?
In the optional Spanish Immersion Program, ICS offers its general program curriculum, beginning with Kindergarten, in Spanish. If you choose to enroll your child in this program in Kindergarten, the vast majority of your child’s classroom instruction will be exclusively in Spanish (currently, specialized subjects – Science, Dance and Movement, Music, and Art – are taught in English). As your child progresses to higher grades, an increasing amount of instruction is in English. By the fifth grade, instruction will be nearly equally divided between English and Spanish. This ensures that your child will acquire important literacy skills in both languages. This content-based instructional program is designed for your child to emerge functionally bilingual.
ICS teaching staff in the Spanish Immersion Program are native speakers of Spanish. In a few instances, teachers who are not native speakers can demonstrate native fluency in oral and written examinations.
What’s the value of a second language immersion program?
The study of a second language at ICS, whether as part of the immersion program or as part of the ICS general program, is a key element of the ICS world culture curriculum. As Ludwig Wittgenstein said, to imagine language is to imagine a world. Children can learn more at an earlier age. For more information about the benefits of early second language instruction, visit these websites:
Center for Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Immersion Programs
What Parents Want to Know About Foreign Language Immersion Programs
Why the emphasis on Spanish?
Every indicator of population trends suggests that Spanish will become a more widely spoken language in this country during the lifetimes of our students. As your child progresses through the grades, we envision an increasing amount of instruction will be content-based, giving your child a proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Spanish. Not only will this give your child advanced communication skills, it will daily underscore the reality that our children live in a world comprised of languages other than English.
How will learning everything in Spanish affect my child’s ability to read and speak English?
Research has consistently shown that the immersion experience actually improves English language development. You may initially see that your child’s reading, word knowledge, and spelling in English lags behind peers who are not in an immersion program. This is natural and it will disappear after a year or two of English instruction. Most students in the Spanish Immersion Program absorb English naturally from their daily interactions, reading, watching TV, and other media, and by 2nd grade can read in English without any direct instruction.
How does ICS help Spanish Immersion Program students learn English?
ICS provides all students in the Spanish Immersion Program with English language instruction to support their English language and literacy development. Students in K-2 receive two weekly 30-minute periods in English for phonemic awareness. English is formally introduced in 3rd grade as a daily one-hour unit. In 4th grade, students get 1 hour of English instruction. By 5th grade, 50% of an immersion student’s classes are in English.
No matter which program a child attends, all ICS parents are required to read to their children for at least 20 minutes daily to support their learning. This is a very important component of establishing English literacy in students of the Spanish Immersion Program.
How do I know if my child will do well in this program?
Research shows that all children can do well in the Spanish Immersion Program, no matter their background. There is no “model” immersion student. Children with special needs are eligible to participate in the Spanish Immersion Program. However, depending on the needs, the intensive Spanish Immersion Program may or may not be appropriate. ICS offers special learning services for those students, but the special-needs targeted assistance will happen in English. If you have concerns about your child entering this program, request an appointment with Claudia Lee, the Spanish Immersion Program coordinator.
I don’t speak Spanish.
You don’t have to. Many, if not most, of our parents with children in the Spanish Immersion Program don’t speak Spanish. Sure, it helps if you know some Spanish. And not surprisingly, you will learn some over the years. But you do not need to be fluent.
ICS does offer parent classes in Spanish for parents who wish to build their own language fluency.
Homework is generally designed to be completed independently by the student. Certainly, having an English-Spanish dictionary at home will help support your child.
