At the grand opening of the Hollister Dual Language Academy on
Friday, families got a chance to become familiar with the magnet
school program in which their kids are enrolled.
Hollister – Connected by a sliding wall, the two kindergarten classrooms appeared almost identical: Each was filled with books and colorful signs, welcoming the students.
The only difference – one classroom’s material was in English, and the other was exclusively in Spanish.
At the grand opening of the Hollister Dual Language Academy on Friday, families got a chance to become familiar with the magnet school program in which their kids are enrolled.
The dual language program, teaching students half the day in Spanish and the other half in English, will launch Monday after two years of planning.
For kindergartners and first-graders, it bore little importance that the program is new. Some students ran about excitedly – exploring books and toys and meeting new friends – while others stayed shyly by their parents’ sides.
For the parents, the importance of the program was not lost.
Yoland Correa, whose son, Cristian, will be a kindergartner in the program, said she was looking forward to her son learning both languages.
“We’re both Spanish-speaking parents, but we don’t speak it to our son at home,” Correa said. “We wanted to introduce him to it at an academic level.”
The program – with 40 kindergartners and 40 first-graders enrolled, and a waiting list – was designed so that one-third of the students are from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, one-third from English-speaking families and one-third are bilingual.
Jillian Wilson, who is English speaking, said she enrolled her first-grade son Jackson because she thought it was important, living in California, for him to learn both languages. She said many of Jackson’s friends come from Spanish-speaking homes.
“I think that it’s going to be challenging for him and fun,” Jillian Wilson. “I think it’s a good opportunity for the rest of our family to learn Spanish, too. I’m hoping this opens his eyes to different things and different cultures.”
