Immersion En Español

Parent Guide Book for the Spanish Immersion Program

We are committed to pursuit of its language immersion goals. In order to achieve the long-range goals of the Spanish Immersion Program, and to provide your children with the optimum immersion experience, the following parent book has been developed. By informing parents of the critical components of our elementary immersion program, we canattain a better immersion experience for your child and provide optimum learning experiences in the program.

The long-range goals of the Sioux Falls School District’s Spanish Language Immersion program are:

Goal 1: To develop a high level of proficiency in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the foreign language.


Goal 2: To develop positive attitudes toward thosewho speak the foreign language and toward their culture(s).

Goal 3: To develop English language skills commensurate with expectations for students’ age and abilities.


Goal 4: To gain skills and knowledge in the content areas of the curriculum in keeping with stated objectives in these areas.

The K-5 Spanish Immersion Program in the Sioux Falls School District is a one-waylanguage immersion program. All student participants must be English proficient and all are learning Spanish (the target language). All classroom instruction is given in Spanish from native or near-native Spanish-speaking teachers.

Formal English Language Arts instruction begins in 3rd grade for 45 minutes. 4th and 5th grade students in the program receive 55 minutes of daily English LanguageArts instruction.

Immersion Language Instruction: The Sioux Falls School District is committed to a well-trained work force. Teachers in the immersion language program are no exception to this commitment. Teachers in the specialized language program receive professional development through the CARLA Language Institute, through immersion site visits, and through planned professionaldevelopment opportunities within the Sioux Falls School District, as well as the schools they reside in. Each of the elementary buildings in the Sioux Falls School District is also assigned an instructional coach. This coach works primarily with new teachers during the first quarter to provide suggestions for improving instruction and teaching expectations of American education.

Administrators of theprogram have also received training specific to quality immersion education and instruction as well. It is the job of the administrator to oversee instruction within classrooms, and provide direction and specific feedback to the classroom language teachers.

Language Interns: The Parents Advocates of Spanish Immersion (PASI) is the primary vehicle for which the language interns are providedfor the program. The Sioux Falls School District currently supports the funding of one language intern. Providing additional language models within the learning community enhances student development of the language. PASI organizes and supervises all of the formal and informal processes related to the interns outside of the school day. The school oversees and supervises the intern evaluationsand placements within the program at school. The PASI Intern liaison and the administrators of the program work together to develop guidelines and practices that provide the optimum experience for both the interns and the students of the program.

Learning Concerns: If teachers or parents have concerns about student progress, they work together to provide suggestions for student achievement.Appropriate interventions are applied within the program. It is normal in a traditional classroom to have a range of student abilities. In immersion classrooms, the range of abilities is even greater due to the fact that students are learning via a foreign language. Numerous interventions must be tried before formal processes related to special education services are sought out.

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