Page 65 - EdViewptsSpring2019-web

Opening Young Minds to the

World: Dual Language Immersion

By Sherry Sizemore, District Supervisor, World Languages, and Carl Cooper,
Social Studies, Supervisor, K-12, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School

District

Students enter their Mrs. Koekemoer smiles and greets morning meeting. Students greet each
colorful kindergarten her students effusively in Spanish. other by singing,“hola, amigo. ¿Cómo
está usted?”
She offers personal inquiries into
class bundled in thick their mornings and answers their Across town Ms. Zhang’s kindergar-
winter coats, scarves, excited questions about the day. ten morning meeting is conducted
While very few students began the
and mittens and begin to school year with any exposure to the exclusively in Mandarin. “小朋友们，
早上好｡” Students point to appropriate
unpack their book bags language, in this kindergarten class, characters as all report the date and
Mrs. Koekemoer speaks exclusively
and follow the classroom in Spanish. “Vengan al óvalo.” As weather: “今天是2019年， 1月18日,
星期五， 今天是晴天｡” In fact, while
routines established back students make their way to the carpet, only a handful of her 25 students are
she offers subtle redirection where
native Chinese speakers, Ms. Zhang
in September. Their teacher needed, but when her class of five conducts all of her lessons in Chinese.
year olds is ready, she begins their

Educational Viewpoints -63- Spring 2019