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A Look into Geneva City School District’s Dual Immersion ProgramResearched by the MAT ‘16 Students: Peter Budmen, Alana Killcullen, Gabriella Mason, Kendra

Napierala, Shannon Savard, Ana Schavoir, and Devyn WorkmanWith great help and guidance from Diana Baker

Bilingual Education uses two languages as a means of instruction. The objectives of bilingual education are: “to equally facilitate language and academic development in two languages, English and the student’s native language; to acknowledge the native language of the students; to foster a positive self-concept/image; and to aid students’ understanding of other cultures” (OBE-WL, 2014).

There are currently two different types of bilingual education out there. The first is transitional bilingual education program. This is where English Language Learners (ELLs) learn in English and in their native language. The second type is two-way bilingual education in which both native English speakers and ELLs receive instruction in English and in the native language of the ELLs in the same classroom. The two-way bilingual education system is the system that Geneva has adopted.

We worked closely with West Street and North Street schools in Kindergarten, 1st and 4th grade in the Geneva City School District. Depending on the research question each of us was trying to answer, the methods that we used included: interviews, questionnaires, student surveys and/or observations over the time period of February-April 2015.

Peter Budmen: Do L1 English & L1 Spanish students choose to interact with one another during unstructured times? Do L1 English & L1 Spanish students report being friends with one another? Do dual immersion programs support interpersonal and social relationships between L1 English & L1 Spanish speakers?

OBE-WL bilingual education. (2014, December 10). Retrieved April 42, 2015, from http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/bilinged/faq.html#bilingual

With great gratitude we would like to thank Geneva City Schools and more specifically, Geneva’s Spanish dual immersion program’s teachers, administrators, students and families for working so closely and cooperatively with us. Thank you to Hobart and William Smith colleges, especially the education department. Thank you to Diana Baker for guiding us every step of the way!

“A school district is mandated to implement a Bilingual Education program if it has an enrollment of 20 or more students with limited English proficiency in the same grade assigned to a building, all of whom have the same native language (other than English).” (OBE-WL, 2014)

Geneva discovered in the Spring of 2014 that they were going to have to implement a bilingual program because they had 20 or more students that spoke Spanish as a native language in the incoming class of Kindergarten and 1st grade. In August of 2014, there were 20 or more native Spanish speaking students in the incoming 4th grade as well. Therefore the 2014-2015 school year was the first year Geneva implemented the dual immersion program in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 4th grade.

For the dual immersion program to be successful 50 percent of the students must be native Spanish speakers and the other 50 percent of students must be native English speakers. Roughly half of the instruction is done in Spanish, and the other half is in English. Letters were sent out to the parents of the students in each grade level that the program was being offered explaining the program and asking if their son or daughter would like to be a part of it. Because it was the first year of the program, there was not a large selection process. Once the program was full, names were put on a waiting list. In the years to come there will be more of an application process than in this first year. Once the students have enrolled in the program, the idea is that they will continue the program through 12th grade with hopes to be bi-literate in English and Spanish by the time they graduate.

WHAT IS BILINGUAL EDUCATION?

HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

METHODS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alana Kilcullen: How do mathematics curricula (topics, focus on vocabulary, instructional materials) used in a dual immersion setting compare to those used in traditional classrooms? How, if at all, do differences in curricula affect student engagement with the material?

Gabriella Mason: How does teaching in a dual immersion program allow one Latina/Spanish speaking teacher to make linguistic and/or cultural connections with her students? How does a Spanish teacher’s linguistic and ethnic background influence his/her teaching and interactions with students?

Kendra Napierala: Are students with disabilities being encouraged to participate in a dual immersion program as much as their peers without disabilities? Why or why not? Are L1 Spanish speakers with disabilities encouraged/discouraged in the same ways that L1 English speakers with disabilities are?

Shannon Savard: How is differentiated instruction approached in on bilingual dual-immersion program? What kinds of differentiated instruction methods are used and how often both in English and Spanish classrooms? How does a teacher’s background with special education impact the implementation of differentiated instruction in the dual-immersion classroom?

Ana Schavoir: How does involvement in the dual immersion program impact familial relationships? Are families of students in the dual immersion program more involved than families of students outside of the dual immersion program? Are differences in family involvement associated with native language?

Devyn Workman: How is peer-to-peer collaboration being incorporated in the dual immersion language program?

Laursen, R. (2013, August 19). Dual language immersion programs. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://beloitschools.org/dual-language-immersion-programs/

(Laursen, 2013)