From The Brasulista, 23 May 2012. Courtesy of Alf Gunn.
New Utah Dual Immersion Program in Portuguese
In view of the importance of Brazil in the global community today and in coming years, Utah School Districts will offer Portuguese dual emersion programs at three elementary schools beginning in the Fall, 2012, . . . IF THEY CAN ENROLL ENOUGH FIRST GRADE STUDENTS IN THE PROGRAM. There is still room for more students in each of the three schools participating.
In the beginning, in 2012, ONLY FIRST GRADERS will be enrolled. They will progress in coming years.
Students in the program achieve high proficiency in the immersion language and do well in other standardized tests of English and math administered in English.
Why Portuguese? With over 220 million speakers, Portuguese is the seventh most widely spoken language in the world. Because of Brazil’s rapidly expanding economy, many American businesses are eager to hire Portuguese speakers. Children who speak Portuguese can generally understand and learn Spanish with little difficulty.
To enroll, parents should contact Lakeview Elementary in the Provo School District, Parkside Elementary in the Murray School District or rocky Mountain Elementary in the Alpine School District.
Parents are asked to commit to long-term participation in the immersion program, including reading with the child in English 20-30 minutes daily and encouraging the use of Portuguese outside of school. They also will need to provide transportation to the schools offering the program.
Dual Immersion (already offered in Spanish, Chinese and French) offers a rich bilingual experience for young learners at an age when their minds are developmentally best able to acquire a second language. Instruction is divided between two high quality, creative classrooms: one in English and one Portuguese. Subject matters meet the Utah State Core Curriculum. In a short time the students will speak only in Portuguese during Portuguese class.
For more information: Utah’s Dual Immersion Website
http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/dualimmersion
Jaime Leite, Portuguese Dual Immersion Coordinator, jamieleite@gmail.com
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
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