Bilingual approach

Conejo Elementary to pilot language immersion program



Photos by RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers READY TO LEARN—Above, transitional kindergarten teacher Nubia Ortega helps Ian Castillo and Soren Courtney with a counting activity at Conejo Elementary School on Tuesday.

READY TO LEARN—Transitional kindergarten teacher Nubia Ortega helps Ian Castillo and Soren Courtney with a counting activity at Conejo Elementary School on Tuesday. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers 

Conejo Elementary School will launch Conejo Valley Unified’s first dual-language immersion program next fall.

The program will roll out in the 2022-23 school year with two kindergarten classes. The kindergartners will be taught in English for half of the day and in Spanish for the other half.

Parents who choose to enroll their children will be making a six-year commitment, as those students will continue to be taught 50- 50 in the two languages through fifth grade.

Erica Ultreras, principal at Conejo Elementary, where more than half of the student body are native Spanish speakers, said it makes perfect sense for the school to be the launching pad for the immersion program in the district.

“A (dual-language immersion) program will increase the academic achievement opportunities for our English learners and actually all our students,” Ultreras told trustees at the Oct. 12 school board meeting.

Dual-language instruction has been a staple at Agoura Hills’ Sumac Elementary School in Las Virgenes Unified for 10 years but otherwise remains a rarity in local districts. Neither Moorpark nor Simi Valley give English-dominant speakers the option of being taught half the time in a foreign language in elementary school.

Below, student teacher Miabella Bolton works with kindergartners in the classroom. Starting in the 2022-23 school year, two classes of kindergarteners at the school will be taught in English and Spanish. Bilingual instruction will continue through fifth grade.

Student teacher Miabella Bolton works with kindergartners in the classroom. Starting in the 2022-23 school year, two classes of kindergarteners at the school will be taught in English and Spanish. Bilingual instruction will continue through fifth grade. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers 

Trustees for years have discussed such a program as a way to buoy declining enrollment by attracting parents who want to make their children competitive in a global economy.

Trustee Cindy Goldberg said it is happening now because the timing is right.

“It’s all about timing. We finally have the perfect confluence of the necessary elements, from an excellent and engaging site administrator, supportive district administration and all the parent and community interest,” she told the Acorn.

At last week’s meeting, trustee Lauren Gill said she’s seen firsthand how dual immersion can put native English speakers on a pathway to mastering two languages.

“My best friend, her children and mine grew up together but we lived in adjacent towns, and her kids were in dual immersion and now are fully bilingual, biliterate and bicultural, and mine are not,” she said. “And I am really envious.”

Part of the motivation for launching the program, Ultreras said, was the California Department of Education’s Global California 2030 plan, which sets a goal that by 2030 half of all K-12 students will participate in programs leading to proficiency in two or more languages.

By 2040, CDE wants three out of four students to earn a State Seal of Biliteracy, which shows they are proficient in two or more languages.

Ultreras is in her second year as principal at Conejo. Before coming to CVUSD, she was the dual-language immersion coordinator for the Ocean View School District in Oxnard and before that an administrator at a dual-immersion school. She has two nieces who are enrolled in a dual-language program in Palmdale.

Ricardo Araiza, CVUSD’s director of multilingual learners and equity, said benefits of being bilingual include high academic achievement, stronger comprehension skills, improved critical thinking and increased awareness of how language works beyond the meaning of each word. It also increases empathy through cultural understanding, promotes cultural awareness, creates positive cross-cultural interaction and supports children in making strong connections with their family, culture and community.

There are also economic benefits, like increased career opportunities, the ability to compete in the global market and increased compensation for use of bilingual skills, Araiza said. He said being bilingual allows him to connect to the families he serves. He said his children went through a dual-language immersion program.

Conejo Elementary has around 340 students, 51% of whom are English learners. Around 80% are socioeconomically disadvantaged, according to the California School Dashboard.

To prepare for the dual immersion launch, CVUSD is hiring teachers with bilingual, cross-cultural, language and academic development (BCLAD) credentials and putting on professional development training for the rest of the staff at Conejo. They are also looking for ways to market the program to families, such as giving presentations at local preschools.

Student trustee Catherine Xu grew up speaking Mandarin and came to CVUSD as an English learner. She spoke at the school board meeting about her experience growing up bilingual.

“There are so many benefits about being bilingual and learning multiple languages, so I feel like I’m really excited about this program because I think it will impact a lot of students in different ways,” she said.

To learn more about the new program, go to conejousd.org/Dual-Language-Immersion.