Caption: AP Spanish Literature, a rigorous Spanish language class here at Poly.
Written By: Reese McCarty, Staff Writer
BILINGUAL: Poly’s first ever class of Dual Language Immersion students is graduating!
In May of 2023, the inaugural class of Riverside Unified School District’s (RUSD) Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program will be graduating. Helping these students achieve success, DLI aims for students to reach high levels of achievement in both English and Spanish. Thirteen years ago, a group of Washington Elementary School students were selected to take part in this program; at the time, Washington Elementary School was the only school in RUSD with it. However, in light of its students’ success, DLI has grown, spreading to six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school across the district.
DLI students began the program in kindergarten, spending 90% of their day learning in Spanish and the other 10% in English. Every year, instruction in Spanish would go down 10% until fourth grade, where their day was 50% English and 50% Spanish. This split (50-50) instruction continued until seventh grade, when the students took Pre-AP Spanish to prepare for the AP Spanish Language class they would later take in eighth grade. The students then took their first AP test in May of their eighth grade year. Here at Poly, these students continued to challenge themselves in rigorous classes such as AP Spanish Literature, World History, and Honors US History – with the curriculum is delivered completely in Spanish. Now, the senior DLI class is taking a Spanish-English Translation course.
Students in the program are very grateful for the educational and cultural opportunities it brought. DLI student Avery Bacon (11) feels that this program has “been able to broaden [her] perspective on the world immensely and has helped [her] develop who [she] is as a person.” Avery also appreciates how much her experience in DLI taught her about Spanish culture. Addison Zyber (11) referenced how “it is nice to connect with people that know Spanish and are learning the same things as you.” Both Avery and Addy mentioned that they feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to learn Spanish through such an amazing program.
These students have worked very hard over the years and have even received a seal of biliteracy. After all their time spent pushing themselves, the senior DLI students will graduate with amazing skills, capable of benefiting them for years to come.