This document discusses the benefits of bilingual education programs. It highlights a teacher who sees students grow socially as they learn two languages and respect cultural differences. Research shows that bilingualism leads to higher cognitive skills, academic achievement, and job opportunities. Studies of over 2 million students found that English learners need 5-8 years of primary language education to close achievement gaps, and students in bilingual programs often outperform native English speakers. The goals of two-way bilingual immersion programs are to develop bilingualism, biliteracy, multicultural competence, and increase global, home and school community.

1. Opening up New Worlds for
Our Children
“I admire my students as they learn about the world and each
other in two languages…I have seen them grow socially as they
learn to respect the cultural and language differences in our
classroom
--- Amanda Flores, CABE Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Teacher-of-the-year
from Long Beach, CA

2. Speaking in Tongues
Speaks directly to one of the important issues
facing our diverse society.
• —-Laurie Olsen, Executive Director, California Tomorrow
Provides valuable insight into the issues and
challenges that schools across America are
facing as they seek to educate children for the
world of the 21st Century.
• —-Brett Lovejoy, Executive Director, American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages
• www.speakingintonguesfilm.info

3. Benefits
• Bilingualism
• Access to opportunities and jobs
• Community building
• High self-esteem
• Critical and creative thinking
• Cognitive Skills
• High academic achievement for all

4. Cognitive Skills
• Recent discoveries regarding the learning brain:
– Environment changes the brain: what
students do determines the actual structure of
their brains…how many synapses and how
elaborate their networks are (Dr. Justin Cunnigham)
– Increased computational demands of
processing 2 different languages requires
greater use of the brain (Laura-Ann Petitto, PhD.,
Dartmouth College)

5. Long-term High Academic
Achievement for All
• Dr. Virginia Collier and Dr. Wayne Thomas after
2 decades of study including more than 2 million
student records
– English language learners: 5-8 years of education are
needed in their primary language to close the
achievement gap with English-speaking students
– Students in bilingual programs: often do better in all
academic subjects than native English speakers with
no access to bilingual training
– Two-way programs are consistently the highest
achieving schools in any district included in their
studies

6. Comparison of Long-term Achievement
on Standardized English Reading Tests
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 3 5 7 9 11
Grade
NCE
Two-Way Dual
Immersion
Avg native English
speakers
ESL taught
traditionally
Based on © Wayne P. Thomas & Virginia Collier, 1997

7. Goals
• Globalization
• Building home and school community
• More choices for parents
• Increased acceptance and understanding
of other languages and cultures

8. What is a 90/10 English Spanish Two-
Way Dual Immersion Program?
• English learners and
native English-speaking
students learn to speak,
read, and write in
Spanish and English
• Both languages are
valued equally
• Students acquire a new
language and increase
self-esteem while
modeling their native one
to other students
Grade Spanish English
K 90% 10%
1 90 10
2 80 20
3 70 30
4 60 40
5 50 50

9. Goals
• Bilingualism: Students will develop high levels of
oral language proficiency in English and Spanish
• Biliteracy: Students will achieve high levels of
academic proficiency in all subjects in English
and Spanish
• Multicultural Competence: Students will develop
high levels of self-esteem and cross-cultural
understanding
• Powerpoint courtesy Live Oak School.

10. Goals
• Bilingualism: Students will develop high levels of
oral language proficiency in English and Spanish
• Biliteracy: Students will achieve high levels of
academic proficiency in all subjects in English
and Spanish
• Multicultural Competence: Students will develop
high levels of self-esteem and cross-cultural
understanding
• Powerpoint courtesy Live Oak School.