Post by gatormom on Apr 6, 2008 7:21:29 GMT -5
D203 sees huge response to new bilingual classes
Lottery to decide admission
Naperville Sun
April 6, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Response to Naperville School District 203's plans to create dual-language elementary classrooms next year has been so great that the district must hold a lottery to determine which students can participate in the new program.
That lottery will take place this week, and parents of the children selected for the programs will be notified next week, said Jodi Wirt, District 203's associate superintendent for instruction.
This is the first new program the district has introduced since the arrival of Superintendent Alan Leis in 2003. The program is designed to develop bilingualism and biliteracy, and promote cross-cultural understanding and acceptance. It has proven so popular because many parents see bilingualism as a gift, Wirt said.
"Some people just have a real belief that that's an important skill set for the 21st century, or they, themselves, are bilingual and recognize how important it is," she said.
The district will launch a magnet dual-language, Spanish-English program with the creation of a kindergarten and a first-grade class at Maplebrook Elementary next year. Next year the district also will implement a site-based, dual-language, Spanish-English program with the creation of a kindergarten and first-grade class at Beebe Elementary School. These classes will have about 25 students - roughly 15 who speak English and 10 who speak Spanish. They will provide English- and Spanish-language learners with literacy instruction in their primary language.
The district also wants to create either a first-grade or kindergarten Chinese, dual-language magnet class at Ranch View Elementary School in the 2009-10 school year. Each year, all of these programs would expand accordingly to allow students to continue to receive grade-level instruction in the program.
The district hopes to complete the roll-out of this new elementary-level foreign language curriculum in the 2010-2011 school year, when it intends to begin offering 90 minutes of traditional Spanish foreign language instruction each week to all elementary students.
Wirt said a few parents who attended the district's February informational meetings on the classes it is creating for next year had concerns about enrolling their child in the program. She said they were more curious whether students really achieve biliteracy and still have the same academic performance standards as those who are in monolingual classrooms. Research and experience show that they can and typically do achieve on the same level or better.
"And we're going to implement the same curriculum. We're just going to implement it using two languages," Wirt said.
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/879734,6_1_NA06_D203_S1
Lottery to decide admission
Naperville Sun
April 6, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Response to Naperville School District 203's plans to create dual-language elementary classrooms next year has been so great that the district must hold a lottery to determine which students can participate in the new program.
That lottery will take place this week, and parents of the children selected for the programs will be notified next week, said Jodi Wirt, District 203's associate superintendent for instruction.
This is the first new program the district has introduced since the arrival of Superintendent Alan Leis in 2003. The program is designed to develop bilingualism and biliteracy, and promote cross-cultural understanding and acceptance. It has proven so popular because many parents see bilingualism as a gift, Wirt said.
"Some people just have a real belief that that's an important skill set for the 21st century, or they, themselves, are bilingual and recognize how important it is," she said.
The district will launch a magnet dual-language, Spanish-English program with the creation of a kindergarten and a first-grade class at Maplebrook Elementary next year. Next year the district also will implement a site-based, dual-language, Spanish-English program with the creation of a kindergarten and first-grade class at Beebe Elementary School. These classes will have about 25 students - roughly 15 who speak English and 10 who speak Spanish. They will provide English- and Spanish-language learners with literacy instruction in their primary language.
The district also wants to create either a first-grade or kindergarten Chinese, dual-language magnet class at Ranch View Elementary School in the 2009-10 school year. Each year, all of these programs would expand accordingly to allow students to continue to receive grade-level instruction in the program.
The district hopes to complete the roll-out of this new elementary-level foreign language curriculum in the 2010-2011 school year, when it intends to begin offering 90 minutes of traditional Spanish foreign language instruction each week to all elementary students.
Wirt said a few parents who attended the district's February informational meetings on the classes it is creating for next year had concerns about enrolling their child in the program. She said they were more curious whether students really achieve biliteracy and still have the same academic performance standards as those who are in monolingual classrooms. Research and experience show that they can and typically do achieve on the same level or better.
"And we're going to implement the same curriculum. We're just going to implement it using two languages," Wirt said.
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/879734,6_1_NA06_D203_S1