By Robert Dozmati, El Monte City School District
At El Monte City School District (EMCSD), their Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs have been a staple for over 7 years. This year EMCSD decided to extend their Mandarin and Spanish DLI into their summer program. DLI is in line with the district’s goal of fostering more diverse and inclusive learning environments, acknowledging the growing significance of multiple languages in an increasingly interconnected society.
Typically, EMCSD offers STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) and Musical Theatre during the summer for students, and this year the district expanded their STEAM to feature a DLI track in order to ensure language acquisition is sustained during summer break. The program aims to offer a comprehensive educational experience that develops critical thinking abilities and intellectual curiosity by integrating several subjects. Maritza Dueñas, Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) whose specialty is DLI expresses the significance of a summer track, “We want students to see that new concepts and skills learned in Spanish can be used and applied in English. This means that they can articulate their understanding of science and engineering in two languages.”
In both languages, students take part in practical science and engineering projects. Students can use their language abilities in authentic situations thanks to this multidisciplinary method, which reinforces learning through application. Whether they are investigating environmental science, building simple machines, or doing experiments, kids will utilize language to share ideas, work through issues, and cooperate with one another.
Within the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) framework, students in the program’s STEAM segment have demonstrated exceptional flexibility in acquiring STEAM topics. Ms. Dueñas says “We applied the same language allocation used during the school year to our summer program. For Kindergarten to 3rd grade, instruction was primarily in Spanish with a few days in English to bridge the language. For 4th to 6th grade, instruction was split 50/50 to mirror the regular school year.”
Instructors have also done a great job of adjusting to this teaching approach. They have used skills from research based strategies to enhance language development when delivering STEAM topics in both languages. Their success has been largely attributed to collaborative planning and continual professional development, which have allowed them to provide captivating, linguistically rich lessons. Teachers focused specifically on the DLI students’ oral language skills this summer “We know that oral language is closely connected to written language, so by supporting our students’ oral development, we also support their reading and writing skills,” said Ms. Dueñas.
The program’s first year has come to an end and the turnout was successful. EMCSD hosted their Mandarin Summer program at Columbia, while Spanish DLI students attended Durfee. The district is committed to continuously improving and expanding their DLI offerings, hence the new summer program which comes on the heels of EMCSD creating a DLI robotics program this past school year. With successful starts, EMCSD hopes to continue building on student success and interest in the 2024-2025 school year.
