Hablando Español en Kindergarten

Lucia Rocha-Nestler is a kindergarten teacher who is immersing her students in the Spanish language and culture, from the moment they walk through the door. Her students have responded fabulously.

"My kids think I don't speak English," she said.

With less than a month of instruction, Rocha-Nestler's students are already able to read and write words in a second language, she said. And enrollment is expected to grow, just as the children do with the program.

Students who enter the program in kindergarten receive 90 percent of instruction in Spanish and 10 percent in English. Percentages adjust each year until fifth graders receive 50 percent of instruction in Spanish and 50 percent in English.

“Our students will be bicultural and bilingual,” Girsky said.

According to program administrator Tami Girsky, the program, which began instruction in Fall 2008, now has 180 students on track to become completely bilingual by the time they graduate the fifth grade.

"They're living the curriculum," said Spanish Immersion teacher Lucia Rocha-Nestler.

The kindergarteners that began the program in it’s first year are now in third grade and responding very well to the program model, Girsky said.

“It’s very popular,” Girsky said. “We have a waiting list every year.”

Laurel Elementary School and Encinal Elementary are currently hosting eight Spanish Immersion classes. The Immersion program has proved to be beneficial to both native Spanish speakers and English only students.

“For the Spanish speaker, if you’re learning only English you now lose that native language,” Girsky said. “They learn to be very well-versed and literate in their native language.”

For English speakers, she said, it’s the same idea. Students in the Immersion program will learn the exact same curriculum as non-Immersion classrooms but in a bilingual manner.

The program also serves a deeper purpose, as a window into other cultures.

Though she is in her first year with the MPCSD, Rocha-Nestler has been teaching in immersion programs for eight years and describes herself as an advocate for immersion education.

"They're learning how to function in a whole other culture," she said.

Rocha-Nestler, who is a native Spanish speaker, said students who speak Spanish at home will be able to maintain deep connections to their culture in an educational platform.

"It's such an important part of our cultural existence," she said.

Students who are not in the program, Girsky said, still benefit from the cultural activities made available by the Spanish Immersion program.

"All kids are benefitting from these cultural activities because the whole school is exposed to that,” Girsky said.

Menlo Park parents have played a huge role in the development of the program, Girsky said, and have responded enthusiastically to the programs progress.

“They’re ecstatic,” she said. “They love it.”

MPCSD parents initially researched the idea to begin an Immersion program and felt that language should be incorporated more heavily into the curriculum. Parents who decide to enroll their children must make a six-year commitment to the program, as the child begins in Kindergarten and graduates in fifth grade.

“It’s a huge leap for kids to learn two languages,” Girsky said. “It’s a huge commitment.”

In the future, the program hopes to increase communication with the two host schools in order to improve the program. With K-2 classes at Laurel and K-3 classes at Encinal, communication could be improved, Girsky said When students reach fourth grade, Girsky said, they will meet together at Encinal.

Though the classes are fairly new, Girsky said there is no fear that budget cuts could potentially end the language immersion program.

“The program is not going to be cut,” she said. “It’s very much intertwined and engrained into the school community.”

As children continue their education to become bilingual, the district hopes to bring students together in culture, language and high-quality education.