Dual Language Immersion
2020 - Present
I was hired into Wabash as a long term sub, which turned into a permanent position. The Wabash City Schools district houses a dual language immersion (DLI) Spanish program that is modeled after the DLI program in Utah public schools. 50% of the students' school day is taught in English and 50% is in the target language. I have taught primarily math, science, and Spanish language in Spanish for four years here at Wabash City Schools.
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I began at O.J. Neighbours Elementary School teaching in 3rd grade. The following two years I had the pleasure to loop up and teach the following grades (4th & 5th) with the same group of students. This group of students was the pilot group for the DLI program. Meaning, that every year was the first year that that particular grade level had bilingual instruction given. As the instructor in this position I was tasked with "unboxing" (very literally) and making it into a usable state.
After three years, I returned to 3rd grade and began to work with a new group of students. The 5th grade is placed at Wabash Middle School. I worked closely with a co-teacher every year as she would teach the English portion of curriculum and I would teach the Spanish curriculum.
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I was very fortunate to work with a wonderful staff during my time here. Everyone was wonderful to work with. The other Spanish teachers were from all over the world, Venezuela, Spain, Cuba, etc... I learned so much from them and appreciated the opportunities to collaborate and teach alongside them. Many unforgettable memories were made.
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Below is a run through of some sample work and snapshots of the work I (and my fellow collogues) executed during out time teaching in the DLI program of Wabash City Schools.
01
Typical Language Lesson
Used mentor texts from curriculum with images and modeling to conduct full group reading sessions. From Benchmark's Taller de Lector's bilingual curriculum. Pedagogy heavily follows a I do, we do, you do with a partner, you do theme. The goal is to have students producing target language 50% of the time, while teacher is producing the other 50% of the time. Using these methods can keep student engagement and participation in the target language 100% of the lesson. (Sample units can be found under Files)
02
Science
In 5th grade I was lucky enough to receive science curriculum from Carolina Science. It is an investigative curriculum that allowed students to explore and create definition/understanding from their experiences in class. I also tapped into other resources and organizations such as the National Farm to School Network to conduct a unit on hydroponics. I collaborated often with the 6th grade science teacher with the community garden project he was leading. (Sample units can be found in files)
03
Social Emotional Learning
A daily routine regardless of grade level is "Las Estrellas." Every day, we would begin class with the students moving their little star to a to emotion that corresponded with how they were feeling. They are always welcome to change it throughout the day. The students were to use provided model language "Estoy ___" or "Me siento ___" and then they could expand upon it however they wish. This allowed students with lots of capacity for target language and students who did not have enough ability in the target language to both participate. They are not obligated to share if they do not want to. This allows for good natural flow of language and an excellent opportunity for students to explore language.
04
Fall Market
The fall market was a collaborative event put on by the Spanish teachers for the DLI students. The objective was for the students to have real opportunity practicing buying items as if they were at a market. Much food was donated by parents and community members to make this possible. There were also several stations for students to attend with different activities. These stations included, sing songs in Spanish, Art projects, Read a loud in Spanish, a theater put on in Spanish by some of the 5th grade DLI students.
