Dual-Language (Bilingual) Approach

At Del Mar Academy, we use a dual-language approach.  Our students are taught literacy and content in both the Spanish and English languages. Our dual-language approach begins at the toddler and Casa levels.  Children are read to, sing, and do vocabulary building in both the English and Spanish languages.   However, based on research conducted in the field of bilingual education, our teachers support the child in reading and writing in his or her native language first.  If the child is bilingual already, the teacher will meet with the parent(s) to decide what language should be used first to build the child’s literacy skills.  We believe that transferring strong literacy skills over to another language is easier than learning basic literacy skills in both languages.  Depending on the child, the latter may lead to confusion.

Once our children enter the Lower and Upper Elementary levels, they receive roughly two hours of undisturbed Spanish language instruction.  During this two hour timeframe, our children also receive Social Studies content instruction in Spanish.   When possible, we try to offer enrichment classes only in Spanish so that children are engaged in as many topics as possible in the Spanish language only.   On the other hand, our children also receive several hours of undisturbed English language instruction.  During this time, our children are working on several types of content in the English language only.   In both the Spanish and English language instruction blocks, there are teachers available to support either Spanish Language Learners (SLL) or English Language Learners (ELL).  In these instances, teachers support the children with many fun and interactive vocabulary activities which help build the child’s confidence and conversational fluency.

Since our school is comprised of both English and Spanish speakers, there are many opportunities for peer and group work where the children become one another’s teachers.   For children who do not speak either English or Spanish, a special language plan is created for the child with the help of his or her parents and teachers.

DMA’s goal is to help our students become bilingual and bi-literate.   We realize that there are various needs and levels of “Bilingualism” present at our school but we are confident that with support from home and an interest from the child, it is possible for a child to achieve academic success in his second language equal to that of his non-native language.  Nonetheless, we urge all parents to remember that the process of becoming bilingual takes time and that the process and outcome also varies from child to child.