Desert Sands's Dual Language Immersion Program

Dual Language Immersion Program

The Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program at Desert Sands K-5 brings together native-English speakers, native Spanish speakers, and bilingual speakers together to learn from one another and acquire two languages. Our program follows a 90:10 Model where students receive instruction in Spanish for 90% of the school day in kindergarten and balances instruction to 50% Spanish and 50% English by 4th grade.

Research has shown that this approach is highly successful at teaching grade-level content while developing impressive levels of language proficiency in students. Research from the past 30 years shows that DLI programs can produce important benefits for all students including:

  • Enhanced Cognitive Skills Students typically develop greater cognitive flexibility and demonstrate increased attention control, better memory, and superior problem-solving skills.
  • Improved Academic Performance Students perform as well as or better than non-immersion students on standardized tests of English and mathematics.
  • Minimizing the Achievement Gap Students respond to the cognitive demands of learning content in two different languages. They develop enhanced cognitive skills that benefit them throughout their K-12 academic experience.
  • Higher Second Language Proficiency Students achieve higher levels of second language proficiency. They graduate from high school “bilingual” and “bi-literate”.
  • Enhanced Global Citizenship Students are better prepared to collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve across linguistic and cultural frontiers. They also exhibit more positive attitudes toward other peoples and other cultures.

If you are considering our Dual Language Immersion program for your child, please complete our DLI Interest Form.

You may also want to visit our schools who are part of the Dual Language Immersion program.

Jackson Elementary School - DLI
Reagan Elementary School - DLI

Please visit our District Dual Language Immersion website for additional information and resources.

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