Batesville Community School Corporation began Indiana’s first Chinese Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Program during the 2016-17 año escolar. The DLI program began with kindergarten students in 2016 and expands to the succeeding grade level each year.
¿Qué es un programa de inmersión en dos idiomas??
En un programa de inmersión en dos idiomas, A los estudiantes se les enseñan los estándares de Indiana en dos idiomas., both their native language (inglés) and the target language (Chinese). Students learn the same standards-based curriculum in all content areas that non-immersion students follow in any other classroom.
Batesville Community School Corporation will continue with a full immersion model with increased Mandarin Literacy for Kindergarten students during the 2024-2025 año escolar. First grade will transition to the full immersion model during the 2024-2025 año escolar. This model will soon replace the current 50/50 model as students progress through elementary school. In this model, students have one Mandarin Chinese teacher who is responsible for the delivery of all instruction within all content areas. Batesville Community School Corporation currently uses a 50/50 model in grades 1-3 (will be grades 2-3 in 2024-2025), in which students spend half of their school day in Mandarin Chinese and the other half-day in English. Students in the 50/50 model have two teachers, one who teaches exclusively in Mandarin Chinese for half of the day and one who instructs in English for half of the day. In 4th grade and above, models adjust slightly to meet the needs of the students in the DLI program.
Why begin a second language in kindergarten?
Kindergarten aged students are developmentally ready to learn languages. Un niño tiene el doble de sinapsis (conexiones) en el cerebro como adulto. Los jóvenes estudiantes deben usar estas conexiones o perderlas. There is a window of opportunity in which a child learns languages easily. After this period, the brain becomes slowly less receptive. With the typical model of waiting until students are in middle school or high school to learn a second language, Es más difícil adquirir una lengua extranjera.. En un programa de inmersión en dos idiomas, los estudiantes no solo aprenden a hablar chino, but they will be reading and writing in a second language.
