Our Curriculum
The Gift of Language Spanish Immersion Program provides a total immersion language experience in a multicultural setting for pupils whose parents would like them to have the advantage of becoming proficient in two languages- English and Spanish-.
Children learn the Spanish language naturally in everyday conversational situations and through subject content instruction. This makes language learning more meaningful to them and helps them develop listening comprehension, spontaneous verbal expression, reading, and writing skills. Culture plays an important role in our program. Our staff represents a blend of American and Hispanic backgrounds, with teachers from Spanish speaking countries.
We offer before and aftercare Spanish Immersion programs for kids in elementary school, grades K through 5th. We also have an exciting all day immersion for kids in preschool.
The focus of our immersion programs are to help students become proficient in Spanish. In our program, the language is not taught as a subject; it is the medium in which core instruction is delivered. The students become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural and are equally proficient in both languages with near-native fluency in the Spanish language.
In kindergarten and first grade age students, learning is – through regular teaching activities – vocabulary, short sentences, and passive comprehension of the second language. Our teachers speak Spanish while making use of many visual aids and a great deal of body language. Although the children may use English, they are encouraged to use the Spanish vocabulary and expressions with which they are comfortable. Students learn to read in Spanish and are expected to make consistent use of the Spanish expressions, vocabulary and structures. All classroom procedures and subject content instruction are in Spanish. Special classes of Art, Music, and Physical Education are also taught in Spanish.
According to recent studies, children who learn in two languages benefit from high academic achievement, language proficiency, increased critical thinking skills, increased cognitive development and greater cultural sensitivity. It is an invaluable skill.