K-12 — Attention parents: Applications for the English Spanish dual language program at Edwards Elementary School are due April 2
Newberg parents have more options than ever for starting their children’s education now that the Newberg School District has announced it will offer a dual-language kindergarten program at Edwards Elementary in the fall.

Students in the program will learn to read in English and Spanish, receiving instruction in their native language, while second-language skills will be introduced orally and in written form through songs, poems and games.

The program will only be available in kindergarten this year, but will grow into a K-5 program with the addition of a new grade level each year, with first grade coming online in 2014-2015.

The first class will consist of 26 students split equally between native English and native Spanish speakers.

Parents must submit applications for the program by April 2 and a lottery will be held April 3 to fill the class, with a waiting list also to be established.

An in-school registration event will be held at all district elementary schools from 3:30 to 6 p.m. March 14. Parents can register for the dual-language or full-day kindergarten programs at any school, but can visit Edwards to find out more from principal Sue Luthra and teacher Kelsey Foster, who will lead the class.

Parents can apply for both the dual-language and the district’s full-day kindergarten programs, the latter of which has a $2,900 tuition fee and is housed at Antonia Crater and Mabel Rush elementary schools (as well as at Dundee Elementary if there is enough interest), but cannot enroll in both.

The dual-language program aims to give students the social and cognitive benefits of bilingualism while specifically developing high levels of proficiency and achieving grade-level performance in both languages, taking advantage of the optimal window for learning a second language and also developing bi-literacy and bi-culturalism.

For Spanish speakers, connecting to something in their native language first facilitates their learning of English, while English speakers will get a jump start on a second language, Luthra said.

Many of the details of how the class will be set up, including how much instruction will be given in each language, have not yet been determined.

Luthra has worked at bilingual schools before in the Salem-Keizer district, while Foster has developed dual immersion and native language programs in her 29 years of experience in the Newberg and Beaverton school districts.

Foster also has experience as an English as Second Language (ESL) teacher and a migrant home-school consultant, has operated a Spanish-language after-school day care program, and is endorsed in Bilingual/ESL education.

“We’re just in the very beginning planning stages,” Luthra said. “There’s research on every way to do it, so we’re still looking at the research and visiting different programs around the state that do different models.”

The program, which will include an in-class breakfast and fresh fruit or vegetable snack at no cost thanks to a federal grant, will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (9:15 a.m. start on Wednesdays), but transportation will be the responsibility of parent as no busing will be provided.

By: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic