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  3. Dual Immersion

Dual Immersion

Spanish Dual Immersion

Bremerton School District's Dual Immersion program offers a unique bilingual learning experience for kindergarten through fifth-grade students.

Dual Immersion Mission and Purpose

Mission

The Dual Immersion Program promotes biliteracy, bilingualism, and multiculturalism through the Spanish and English language in order to prepare students to be college and career ready in an increasingly competitive and diverse global society.

Purpose

The purpose of the Dual Immersion Program is to prepare students for the future with abilities to listen, speak, read, and write both English and Spanish. It provides students with the opportunity to learn English and Spanish through meaningful and challenging academics with high-expectations to foster cultural understanding, communication, and citizenship in today's society. Research shows that students who participate in well-implemented dual language programs perform at or above grade-level on district and state tests, as well as achieve advanced levels of proficiency in two languages.1

Program Model

We use a two-way 50:50 model in which the student population is comprised of 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish-speakers.2

Language Allocation

Fifty percent of instruction is in English and fifty percent of instruction is in Spanish. While many of our BSD students are native Mam-speakers, we are including them in the Spanish percentage as they mostly have a Spanish-speaking parent and support at home.

1Collier, V. P., & Thomas, W. P. (2017). Validating the power of bilingual schooling: Thirty-two years of large-scale, longitudinal research. Annual review of applied linguistics, 37, 203-217.

Program Leadership

Dr. Jennifer Hernandez
Assistant Director, Teaching for Learning

Julie Fairall
Principal & Lead Learner, Armin Jahr Elementar

Questions? Need help?

For questions or assistance, please contact the our Dual Immersion team by email or call 360-473-1077.

Why Dual Language?

The Dual Language Program prepares students for the future with abilities to listen, speak, read, and write both English and Spanish. Students receive instruction in both languages, fostering language proficiency and cultural understanding.

Dual Immersion provides students with the opportunity to learn English and Spanish through meaningful and challenging academics with high expectations to foster cultural understanding, communication, and citizenship in today's society.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The core language arts block is taught in Spanish and is the language of goal-setting/grading. A supplemental English language arts block is included to support English language and reading development. Math is taught in English.

    In K-2, Social Studies is taught in Spanish as it can be embedded well into Language Arts. As students move into 3rd grade, Social Studies becomes more state-based and more necessary to be its own component, and more materials are available in English-only due to regional history (tribes). Science will be taught in Spanish for third through fifth grades.

  • Enrollment is open for students in kindergarten and first grade. It's important to note that starting later can present some challenges. To ensure your older student's success, we recommend contacting Armin Jahr Elementary at 360-473-4100 or by email to discuss their language skills and explore if enrollment is a suitable fit.

  • The Dual Immersion program is open to all students at no cost in the Bremerton School District. Students from other Districts may apply to participate in the program through the Open Enrollment process as space allows.

  • Students who qualify for multi-lingual services may receive district-provided transportation if that best fits the needs of the family, but it is not provided for those who participate in Dual Immersion via choice transfer (from another district) or open enrollment (from another BSD school).

  • Research shows that students who participate in well-implemented dual language programs perform at or above grade level on district and state tests, as well as achieve advanced levels of proficiency in two languages.

  • Register your child through our regular registration process. Check the box for Dual Immersion in the section for special programs.

    If you live outside the Armin Jahr boundaries, you’ll need to apply for open enrollment if you are in the District, or a choice transfer if you live outside the Bremerton School District boundaries. Learn more about student registration >