About our Spanish Immersion Program
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About Our Program
Catawba County Schools has partnered with Participate to bring this Language Immersion Program to our district. For over 30 years, Participate has partnered with schools and districts like ours to provide leading-edge technology, comprehensive frameworks, and support services to impact student outcomes by improving teacher practice through collaborative professional learning. Educators have used Participate’s professional development and curriculum, language acquisition, and cultural exchange teacher programs to create engaging learning environments that empower teachers and inspire students to create impact on a global scale. Participate is a certified B Corp and ‘Best for the World’ honoree headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. |
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What does a typical day look like?
We have two different types of immersion programs in our district - a “full immersion” program (also known as a 90:10 model) and a “dual immersion” program (50:50 model). In both programs, students learn the same North Carolina standards-based curriculum as their English-only counterparts, just in Spanish.
In our three “full immersion” programs at Sherrills Ford Elementary, Lyle Creek Elementary, and Startown Elementary, students receive approximately 90% of instruction in Spanish and 10% in English to facilitate early Spanish language acquisition and literacy development. As students transition to higher grades, more of the instruction shifts to English. Typically, the 90:10 model is recommended for populations of primarily English-speaking students because those students have significant exposure to English outside of school.
In our 50-50 model “dual immersion” program at St. Stephens Elementary, students spend 50% of their time learning in English and 50% of their time learning in Spanish, taught by a native English speaking teacher and a native Spanish speaking teacher in an A-B day format. The 50:50 model is typically recommended for student populations with higher numbers of students who speak Spanish at home. This allows all students in the classroom to spend half of their time further developing their first language while spending the other half acquiring a second language.
In our three “full immersion” programs at Sherrills Ford Elementary, Lyle Creek Elementary, and Startown Elementary, students receive approximately 90% of instruction in Spanish and 10% in English to facilitate early Spanish language acquisition and literacy development. As students transition to higher grades, more of the instruction shifts to English. Typically, the 90:10 model is recommended for populations of primarily English-speaking students because those students have significant exposure to English outside of school.
In our 50-50 model “dual immersion” program at St. Stephens Elementary, students spend 50% of their time learning in English and 50% of their time learning in Spanish, taught by a native English speaking teacher and a native Spanish speaking teacher in an A-B day format. The 50:50 model is typically recommended for student populations with higher numbers of students who speak Spanish at home. This allows all students in the classroom to spend half of their time further developing their first language while spending the other half acquiring a second language.
