The bilingual program is transitional. This means that students participate in the program temporarily, always working toward the goal of being successful in English-speaking classrooms.
Bilingual students acquire English in many settings.
Bilingual students eat lunch and go to recess with English speaking students, and bilingual teachers teach ESL lessons in their own classrooms. Because the students' native language is strong when they enter the program, the bilingual classrooms are self-contained with the majority of the instruction in Spanish. This is to promote literacy and enable bilingual students to keep abreast of their classmates in academics while they are acquiring English. In reading, math, science and social studies, bilingual students are held to the same standards as English only students, but with the instruction in Spanish. Third grade is the year when bilingual students learn to read in English.