Hollister
– The first day of school will also be the first day of
”
la escuela
”
for 80 young Hollister students as they’ll learn everything from
arithmetic to geography in both English and Spanish.
Hollister – The first day of school will also be the first day of “la escuela” for 80 young Hollister students as they’ll learn everything from arithmetic to geography in both English and Spanish.
After more than a year of planning, the Hollister School District will launch its two magnet schools at the beginning of the school year. District administrators say both of the schools, the Hollister Dual Language Academy – taught in both English and Spanish – and the Accelerated Achievement Academy are fully staffed and will be ready to go by August 20.
Gabilan Hills Vice Principal Delia Gomez, who will head the dual language academy, said she is excited to launch the new school. She said in the program’s first year there may be some bugs to work out, but the teachers are ready to begin the school year.
“You might start with something that looks great on paper and find it doesn’t work,” she said.
Still, she is confident students will learn a lot with the new program. Gomez attended a conference on dual immersion schools along with the program’s four teachers, and the teachers already have begun to work on lesson plans and selection of curriculum.
Carolina Gomez, who will teach the Spanish component of the first-grade class, specifically came to Hollister from San Diego because of the dual-language program.
“It was something I had always wanted to work on,” Gomez said. “It will be challenging for sure, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
The kindergarten and first-grade classes will each be divided into two classes. Each will spend half of its day learning in Spanish and the other half learning in English.
Although each teacher will give lessons exclusively in one language, all four teachers are fluent in both languages, Delia Gomez said. She said it’s important the teachers can communicate with all parents.
The district created the program with the idea of having one-third of students Spanish speaking, one-third English speaking and one-third bilingual. Gomez said the district came close to meeting the goal. After graduating from the dual immersion schools, ideally all students will be bilingual.
“The goal is to create students who are bilingual, biliterate and multicultural,” Gomez said.
The dual language school has been particularly popular among Hollister parents. Both grades are full. The kindergarten program has 30 students on its waiting list, and the first-grade program has 15 to 20, Gomez said.
Superintendent Ron Crates said he’s excited about the public’s reception of both schools.
“I’m really pleased about the acceptance by the families,” Crates said. “These are places that you don’t have to go to. You choose to go there.”
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