Reply #6: covering curriculum [View All]

[cyberswede]

Interesting... our program doesn't get behind on the required curriculum. They don't repeat the material once in each language, they follow the curriculum and just teach it in whatever language the kids are "in" that week. One week, the kids have English in the mornings and Spanish in the afternoons, then they switch. So, they have one unit in math in English, and then they might continue with the next math unit in Spanish, etc, depending on which classroom they are in that week.

My 3rd grader's reading level in Spanish is the same as his reading level in English (far above grade level in both). I've heard that in the upper grades, sometimes the kids slip in English performance temporarily when the work gets particularly challenging, but this is common and expected, and they work through it and finish at or above the level of their non-dual language peers.

Incidentally, our district is over 50% Latino, and the English language learners in the dual-language program benefit from being immersed in English half the time, as well. :)