Bilingual/ESL Program

PISD seeks kindergarten participants for Spanish Two-Way Dual Language Enrichment program at Caldwell Elementary in 2010-2011

In the 2010-2011 school year, PISD is proud to be offering a program for incoming kindergarten students whose parents are interested in them becoming proficient in the Spanish language. Caldwell Elementary will embark on its second year housing the Spanish Two-Way Dual Language Enrichment (DLE) program. The goal of the DLE program at Caldwell is to produce students who are highly proficient in the reading, writing, listening, and speaking of both the English and Spanish languages.

In the Two-Way DLE program at Caldwell Elementary, Spanish-dominant English language learners (ELLs) and English-dominant students share the same teacher and classroom. This program follows the PISD Language of Instruction Framework, in which kindergarten students spend approximately 90% of their school day in a Spanish instructional environment. In accordance with the District framework, students enrolled in this program will continue to spend the majority of their instructional time in Spanish through first and second grades with a gradual increase in the amount of instructional time allotted in English in grades three, four and five. Upon this strong foundation in Spanish language and literacy, participants will build their English literacy skills to become truly bilingual and biliterate individuals.

After an initial round of meetings was held, there remain spaces in the DLE program for English-dominant students who will enter kindergarten in the 2010-2011 school year. Parents interested in enrolling their incoming kindergarten students in the program are required to attend the mandatory parent information session listed below:

Thursday, April 29th 2009 Caldwell Elementary at 6:30 P.M.

Research on links between second language acquisition and academic success will be shared, as well as specific program model information. Should more families express interest in the program than space allows, a lottery system will be utilized to determine the final selection of kindergarten candidates to the program.