What is the addalingua 90-10 two-way immersion?
The addalingua 90-10 two-way immersion model was designed to serve students in linguistically diverse communities, where classrooms can include an equal mix of Spanish dominant and English dominant students. Students begin with 90% of their instructional time in Spanish (the immersion language) and 10% in English in kindergarten, and gradually increase the amount of English instructional time until they reach 50% in each language in 5th grade.
Why do school communities choose the add.a.lingua 90-10 two-way immersion model?
As Iliana notes in the video, parents chose the add.a.lingua 90-10 two-way model for the benefits it gives their children in terms of academic achievement, cultural awareness, and proficiency in multiple languages.
School communities also choose this model to better serve their English language learner (ELLs) students. One in ten U.S. students qualifies as an English language learner, and unfortunately, this group of students has the lowest graduation rates of all at-risk subgroups.
To understand how life changing an add.a.lingua 90-10 two-way immersion program can be, listen to Maria Ibarra, who shared on our podcast last year how Holland Language Academy has changed her family’s life:
This program is helping me, because I’ve become more involved and whatever doubt I have I can solve it because there are people there who can help me. In other experiences, in another school where they spoke solely English, I really struggled to express concerns that I had about my child, and they couldn’t help me because I didn’t know English and I didn’t understand them. For me, there were many experiences that were extremely difficult, and so truthfully, I sometimes cried because of an inability to advocate, because of feelings of desperation…all because I didn’t know English…thank God that I found this program and my life has changed. My son’s life has changed. His self esteem. He doesn’t want to miss a single day of school.
Where can you find an add.a.lingua 90-10 dual language immersion program?
Three of our partner schools, (Holland Language Academy, Corpus Christi Catholic School, and Holy Cross School) have implemented this addalingua model in order to help their students gain high proficiency in two languages, boost academic achievement, and enlarge their cultural intelligence.
Is an addalingua 90-10 two-way immersion program right for your community?
If you have a passion for ensuring educational equity for all students in your community, and for meeting the needs of linguistically diverse families, an addalingua 90-10 two-way immersion program might be a great fit for your school. Let’s talk!
