• Vision Statement - The One-Way, Dual Language Immersion program in McHenry District 15 is designed to use best practice to support emergent bilinguals.  From PreK-8th Grade, the goal is to develop students that are bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  Using an inquiring-based, balanced literacy approach, we will empower students to be innovative thinkers as they continue toward college and career readiness.  

     

    What is the One-Way Dual Language program?

    • The One-Way Dual Language program (One-Way Dual) is a PreK-8th grade program which uses two languages (English and Spanish) for the purposes of instruction.
    • A long-term commitment (PreK-8th Grade) to keep your child in the program in order for them to become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural.
    • In this program, students will receive literacy instruction in both English and Spanish. This ensures students are receiving high levels of listening, speaking, reading and writing in both languages.
    • Students will be assessed in both languages to monitor their progress in all areas of language and literacy.
    • Instruction is provided by one teacher who speaks both languages.
    • Instructional time will be divided between English and Spanish with more Spanish being taught during instructional time than English in the lower grades. The amount of English instructional time will increase as the grade levels increase.
    • McHenry D15 will be using and 80/20 model in our PreK, Kindergarten, and First Grade classrooms. This means that 80% of the students’ instructional day will be in Spanish and 20% will be in English.
    • Students qualify for the One-Way Dual program using the same screening criteria which is/was used for the transitional bilingual program.
    • Students must qualify for the program. This program cannot be requested by parents.

     

    What are the goals of a One-Way Dual Language program?

    Develop students who are:

    • Bilingual by communicating orally in English and Spanish with high expectations for proficiency in both languages,
    • Biliterate by being able to convey and receive written communication in English and Spanish,
    • Bicultural by understanding and interacting between two cultures,
    • Able to transfer academic skills and information between both English and Spanish.

     

    What are some benefits of the One-Way Dual program?

    • Promoting cultural understanding and acceptance,
    • Collaboration of teachers in order to promote the most effective way of teaching both English and Spanish to students,
    • Students will be immersed in literacy in both languages throughout the day.

     

    How does my child qualify for One-Way Dual Language?  A child qualifies for One-Way Dual Language based on an English language proficiency assessment.  If my child qualifies for this program...

    My child will:

    • Participate in the program through 8th grade,
    • Be in a classroom that includes both English and Spanish instruction from a bilingual endorsed teacher,
    • Develop bilingual (listening and speaking) biliterate (reading and writing), and bicultural competencies.

    Instruction will:

    • Be 80% Spanish/20% English in PreK, Kindergarten, and First Grades,
    • Be 60% Spanish/40% English in Second and Third Grades,
    • Be 50% Spanish/50% English in Fourth and Fifth Grades,
    • Include Spanish langauge arts integrated with social studies at the middle school grades.