As a mother of two children I'm raising bilingual, I would love nothing more than to be able to give them the opportunity to go to a dual language immersion school. If you're not familiar with this type of education, let me start by telling you that it's one of the best ways to ensure your children grow up bilingual and biliterate.
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The beauty of dual language immersion programs is that all children learn both English and Spanish. And it works something like this: initially, half of the children speak only English and the other half only Spanish (there are always some kids who are already bilingual). Most of the teaching is done in Spanish–usually 90 percent of the time–with only some time spent in English.
The idea is that children who do not speak Spanish will be immersed in the language while those who do will reinforce their skills, which will only make it easier for them to learn English. The good thing is that students get to help each other out because each is an expert in their own dominant language. Over time–usually by the fifth grade–teaching happens half the time in English and half the time in Spanish.
While dual language immersion schools do not abound in the United States, truth is that many parents are beginning to realize how beneficial this type of education can be. That's why more and more schools with dual language immersion programs are opening their doors these days, so if you're interested in something like this for your children you can [check here to see if there's a dual language immersion school in your area.
](http://spanglishbaby.com/category/bilingual-education/)
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