I Love my Job!!!

This is mostly for my family who didn't get a chance to read the article. The Salt Lake Tribune called up my principal and wanted to do a story on our district's new program-- Dual Immersion. I am the first teacher in Murray to teach in a dual immersion classroom, and it has been a fabulous experience so far! I am LOVING it! Here is the article that was printed about my program and my class:


Murray Elementary Kids Going Bilingual
School's 'dual language immersion' program is off and running.
By Natalie Dicou
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 09/09/2009 05:03:03 PM MDT



It's been two weeks since Horizon Elementary School began its "dual language immersion" experiment, and the sponge-brained first-graders participating in the program are already speaking Spanish.
Horizon Elementary is the first and only Murray school to offer "dual language immersion," a program that splits children's days into two distinct halves.
Half the day, they learn in English from Linda Curtis, the other half is in Spanish from Tristin West.
When Spanish is spoken, no English is uttered, and vice versa. The two teachers trade classes halfway through the day so each child in the program is exposed to two languages.
Fifty-four of the school's 85 first-graders opted to take part in the innovative program that will continue to split their days down the middle throughout their elementary-school careers.
When they head to junior high, the plan is for them to be bilingual and literate in both languages.
Horizon Elementary is one of 21 Utah schools that started offering "dual language immersion" this fall thanks to funding provided by legislation in 2008 (SB41).
"What a fabulous opportunity," says Horizon Principal Martha Kupferschmidt . "These kids are learning a language. They're not learning just vocabulary."
For West, the Spanish teacher, it's a "dream come true" to introduce students to the language she fell in love as a sixth-grader at Richmond's North Cache Middle School (now White Pine Middle School) thanks to a passionate teacher named Serena Biddulph.
"I will never forget the enthusiasm she had and how cute her classroom was," West said. "It was at that moment when I said 'this is my favorite thing.' "
For all intents and purposes, West, a Sky View graduate who earned degrees from Utah State and UNLV, can't speak English -- at least that's what her students are led to believe.
"If they knew I spoke English, it would be a big crutch for them," West said outside her classroom last week, out of earshot of her students. "[Students will think] 'she understands me. If I throw a fit or if I'm really upset, she'll speak to me in English.' "
Miraculously, once West -- who last year taught a regular third-grade class at Horizon Elementary -- reaches the safe confines of the teachers' lounge, her English skills are restored.
Many students at the school remember West from last year, and are confused by her sudden lack of English skills.
"I heard them whispering to each other, 'She lost her English over the summer,' " West said. "A couple of them have told me they'll come after school to teach me English."
"Dual language immersion" is not about learning to conjugate verbs or memorizing the names of colors. It's about simply submerging children in Spanish as if they were at a Spanish language school in the heart of Madrid.
Teaching 6-year-olds in Spanish involves singing, dancing and movement.
Children, West says, are kinesthetic learners. Movement helps the learning stick.
Besides their supple brains, teaching children a second language is easier than teaching it to adults because children aren't afraid to look stupid, West said.
"They're not afraid to make mistakes," West said. "These kids don't care. They will make mistakes willingly, and that's truly how they learn."
So far, the young school year has been exhausting for both West and her students.
To get her points across, West uses dramatic gestures while she teaches. She's also unaccustomed to speaking Spanish all day, which exercises different cognitive skills.
For the kids -- who are also learning to read and count in addition to being exposed for half the day to a foreign language -- school is tiring.
"Some of them are reaching a point of frustration, which we expected," West said. "They get a little overwhelmed. Intermittently, we have a kid who has a little breakdown, so that's hard because I don't like to see that."
After a few months, West says, school will become much easier for her students.
While the program is a benefit to native English-speakers, it's also an advantage for Spanish-speaking students learning English as second language, Kupferschmidt says.
"They don't lose literacy in their native language; that's one huge benefit," Kupferschmidt said. Another windfall from the program is the high scores native Spanish-speakers achieve in high-school testing because of their participation in the program.
"They are incredibly, hugely more successful than their peers who don't go through this program," Kupferschmidt said.
Some Spanish-speaking parents don't understand what "dual language immersion" is all about, the principal says, and opt to keep their children in regular classes, fearing their children will fail to learn English if they focus too much on Spanish.
But for the kids whose parents chose to enter them into the program, the past two weeks represent the first steps in a long journey, which -- if all goes according to plan -- will end with each possessing a valuable skill.
ndicou@sltrib.com