Merced City School District launching bilingual education program for students
The Merced City School District is launching a new program next year that will help students learn how to speak, read and write in English and Spanish.
The district is currently taking registration for incoming kindergarten students for the dual language immersion program, which will be launched at Stowell Elementary School.
“Dual language immersion really focuses on becoming bilingual and bi-literate in both languages,” said Veronica Villa, who works as the district’s English language development coordinator.
“The goal is for students to become really strong in the Spanish language, while slowly introducing English and then shifting the percentages as they continue on,” Villa added.
The aim is for the students to remain in the dual language immersion program throughout school while the district teams with the Merced Union High School District when this first group of students is ready to move on to high school.
The plan is to open the dual language immersion program with two kindergarten classes in the 2025-26 academic year. Each classroom would ideally have 24-27 students, comprised of 50% coming from Spanish speaking backgrounds and the other half from English speaking backgrounds.
Villa said after meeting with other districts that have offered similar programs and working with other organizations, they’ve stressed the importance of the classroom being split 50/50 between English and Spanish speakers.
“They will support one another,” Villa said. “The teacher will use Spanish to instruct students or to teach them grade level content standards in Spanish. They support each other in in both languages. The goal is for students to become really strong in the Spanish language, while slowly introducing English and then shifting the percentages as they continue on.”
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The first year in the program students will be instructed 90% in Spanish. In first grade it will drop to 80% of the lessons in Spanish and the Spanish portion will continue to decrease until it’s about 50-50 in fourth or fifth grade.
“The program starts with 90% of instruction in Spanish in kindergarten to help students build a strong foundation in the language,” Villa said. “Research shows that when children develop reading and writing skills in their first language, it makes learning a second language easier. As they move up in grade levels, their English proficiency gradually increases so they can become strong in both languages.”
Although most of the lessons will be taught in Spanish, Villa says the Spanish-speaking students will be exposed to English from the beginning through lessons, interactions with classmates, and daily activities.
The district hopes the new program will give students a lifelong skill.
“It’s honoring the inherent value of knowing more than one language, which can be a leverage point as job skill in the future for kids,” Aaron Alexander, the district’s director of state and federal programs, said. “Specifically in our region, it’s a benefit whether you own your own business or you’re employing others to be able to have a person on staff, or you as a business owner, to have connections with the entire community.”
Villa said the benefits of the dual language immersion program goes beyond learning a second language. Learning a new language enhances cognitive abilities, including problem-solving and creativity, and leads to higher self-esteem and academic engagement. It also builds multicultural awareness and communication skills.
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“It not only helps them being able to connect with more human beings on this earth, it makes them more sensitive to different cultures and backgrounds,” Villa said. “The brain grows a certain way, and being bilingual allows it to fire off those neurons where they’re able to grasp more information.”
Villa said the district chose to offer Spanish as the first dual immersion language because of the large Spanish speaking population in Merced. She said there may be other languages offered in the future if there is demand for it.
“We have to look at our community, and what we discovered is about 70% of our students come from Spanish speaking homes,” Villa said. “We’re not putting a ceiling into dual language immersion. What does a Hmong offering look like? How can we have different entry points or different courses of study that introduces other languages?”
Stowell was chosen to host the program because of the high number of Spanish speaking students attending the school and many of the school staff, including principal Vance D’Escoto and learning director Dora Medina-Brum, speak Spanish.
Registration for the dual language immersion program began on March 3.
“We’re lucky to live to live in a state where the value of learning a second language is high,” Villa said. “So we’re we’re excited that our district is catching on and that we are able to provide our families with this opportunity.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 9:39 AM.
