Administrative Center 310 E. James St. • Barrington, IL 60010

Barrington 220 Language Programs: Structure Overviews

Language Link Newsletter English-Spanish Volume I, Volume II

Chinese Immersion Program

Barrington's Bridge to Chinese is our K-16 Chinese language and culture program that is a Barrington 220 designed curriculum to develop pre-advanced speakers of Chinese by graduation from Barrington High School. Our post secondary partner is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This program was created with the support of a Federal Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant, a long standing program of the United States Department of Education. In July of 2010, Barrington Community Unit School District 220 was awarded a $1.5 million grant over a five year period to implement the locally designed project. Barrington 220 was one of 22 districts nationally to receive this grant and the only one in Illinois in 2010.

Barrington's Bridge to Chinese is a three-phase project: elementary immersion, secondary Chinese and university studies. The secondary portion of the program is already in place in grades 6-12. In 2009, Mandarin Chinese began at both Barrington Middle School locations as well as at Barrington High School through a matching grant from the Illinois State Board of Education's Arts and Foreign Language Grant entitled “21^st Century Language Learning”. The secondary program will continue to grow each year until the full five-year curriculum is in place.

The elementary portion of the project began at the start of the 2011-12 school year with kindergarten and first grade sections taught in a 50-50 immersion model. Students learn the grade level objectives in both English and Chinese. Each year, an additional grade level will be added to the program in elementary school. When the immersion students reach the middle and high school levels, they will continue their study of Chinese in specific classes designed for them, but will decrease the amount of class time spent learning in Chinese. The specific design of the middle school program is currently being developed.

The university phase of the project is in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The university's role is to provide feedback to the professional staff of Barrington 220 and design plans for students to continue their studies of Chinese at a high level of fluency. In this manner, students who enter the elementary program will be able to develop advanced skills in Chinese by the time they finish university studies. There is no expectation that students will attend the University of Illinois or that they are guaranteed acceptance to the university.

Spanish Dual Language Program

The Dual Language program is comprised of classes whose students are 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish speakers. Classes in kindergarten, first and second grade are taught by highly qualified bilingual teachers who are assisted by bilingual aides. Each student develops literacy in Spanish. By mid second grade, English literacy instruction begins. Thus, in the intermediate grades, one teacher may be English dominant and one may be Spanish dominant. Instructional materials are available in both languages and correspond to the adopted curriculum for district 220 for each grade level. As students progress through the program, they will master academic content skills in both languages as teachers vary the language in which the content units are taught.

District 220 has adopted the 90-10 format for the dual language program. Research shows this to be a more effective model than the 50-50. In the 90-10 model, instruction in kindergarten and first grade will be delivered 90% in Spanish and 10% in English.

For each subsequent year, the percentage of Spanish is decreased by 10% and increased in English. By fifth grade, instruction in the two languages is a balanced 50 - 50%. It is the district's goal that the program continue into middle and high school, as a Spanish enrichment program that will support the goals of the dual language program.
If you are interested in learning more about the DL Program, and/or in having your child join the next kindergarten cohort, click on the Dual Language Program link on the right. Native English speakers enroll into the program in kindergarten, native Spanish speakers can join the program through second grade.

Goals - Bilingual, Biliterate and Bicultural Dual Language, also known as Two-Way Immersion (TWI), is a compelling and well researched instructional approach that provides a challenging enriched curriculum from which students emerge bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. The dual language program is an additive bilingual program because it honors the native language of all speakers. It does not attempt to supplant one language with another. As a result, all students simultaneously serve as both language models and language learners. For DL research information please click here.