The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is preparing to launch its dual-language immersion pathway in August for about 60 pre-kindergarten or kindergarten students.
The Legado Spanish Immersion Academy, to be hosted at Clifty Creek Elementary School, will give students an opportunity to study in both Spanish and English. The Spanish word legado is translated as leaving a legacy in English.
The Legado program will be taught by three native Spanish speakers, two of which have Columbus connections.
Students will be taught under an 80/20 model, allowing them to be immersed in Spanish for 80 percent of the day, while the remaining 20 percent will be in English. Half of the classroom will be Spanish-speaking students, while the other half will be non-Spanish-speaking individuals.
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Cecilia Renteria Estrada, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, who has lived in Columbus for the past eight years, will be leading the pre-K classroom at Clifty Creek. She got her start in the district working as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching assistant at Smith Elementary School, where she supported pre-K to sixth grade students for three years.
Renteria Estrada has worked at McDowell Education Center for the past four years as an English teacher. She said she intends to bring the Latino culture in her classroom, helping students develop a better understanding that will allow them to have fun as well.
For example, she will highlight Mexican holidays such as Day of the Dead, which is comparable to Halloween in the United States, she said.
Renteria Estrada also said she plans to focus on helping students learn letters, numbers, colors and shapes, along with nursery rhymes and putting classic stories into Spanish.
“I hope I can make the class cozy, comfortable,” she said. “This particular classroom will be more interactive.”
BCSC students in the Legado program will also learn from Greicy Patino, who graduated from Columbus North High School in 2013 and attended schools in Columbus beginning in second grade. Patino, who was born in California, arrived with her parents in the United States from Mexico.
Patino taught kindergarten at Clifty Creek for the past year.
Raising an awareness about different cultures will also be a focus in her classroom, which will help students learn about numbers and days of the week in Spanish, she said. That remains particularly important due to the diversity that currently exists in Columbus, she said.
“We want our students to be culture learners,” Patino said.
A third educator, Susan Pena, has been hired for the Legado program and will be coming to Columbus from the Dominican Republic.
Curriculum plan
BCSC is beginning to develop curriculum for the Legado program, said Michael Parsons, Clifty Creek principal. It will be for 24 students in one pre-kindergarten classroom and 37 students split into two kindergarten classrooms.
“We’ve been very excited about getting into the nuts and bolts to make Legado a success,” Parsons said.
Changes will be made to parking and office signs at Clifty Creek that will be in English and Spanish as part of the transition, Parsons said.
All of the pre-K spots in the program are filled, while the district has open enrollment for three remaining spots at the kindergarten level, said Shane Yates, BCSC prekindergarten director.
The district recently received a $50,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education to support the program, which will be used for professional development, purchase of supplies and materials, visiting other immersion schools and to assist with the visa process for teachers, said Gina Pleak, director of title services for BCSC.
BCSC officials will be attending the Dual Language Summer Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington next week. All school districts in the state that have an immersion program will be able to network and receive professional development tied to dual-language best practices, Pleak said.
Interest in the Legado program was evident through the 250 people who attended an open house earlier this year, Yates said.
“The community has definitely responded with a desire to participate,” Yates said. “We feel like the future is very bright for the future of Legado.”
Pleak said the interest shows that families see the advantage that their children will have in the future by being bilingual and biliterate.
“It also fosters the appreciation of bringing cultures together and how we can learn and grow because of each other,” she said.
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For more information on the Legado program, visit www.bcsc.k12.in.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=17118.
Applications for the program can be found on the website for three remaining spots that are available at the kindergarten level. For questions or more information, e-mail Clifty Creek principal Michael Parsons at [email protected].
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