The Portland Public Schools is launching Maine’s first public full
immersion program in Spanish this fall. The district has hired Susana
Balasch, a teacher from Pamplona, Spain, to teach the program based at
Lyseth Elementary School.
The program will begin with a
kindergarten class. Students will be taught a regular elementary
curriculum in Spanish; music, art and physical education will be taught
in English.
One grade will be added to the program in each
subsequent year as students progress through elementary school. The
amount of instruction in English will increase over time to ensure that
students can speak, read and write in both English and Spanish.
“We
want our students to graduate proficient in a world language so that
they are at a competitive advantage when they enter the workplace,” said
Portland Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk. “This program will help make
that happen. Students who master a second language benefit in other
ways, too. They tend to be more flexible in their thinking and deft at
solving problems.”
Balasch has 11 years of teaching experience
and she has worked in an elementary immersion program in Spain. She
earned a master’s in teaching Spanish as a second language. Balasch
uses theater and other hands-on activities in her teaching.
Balasch
was hired through Spain’s Visiting Teacher Program, part of an
agreement between the government of Spain and the state of Maine where
teachers can come here and teach for up to three years. She is moving
to the area with her husband and two young children.
“I have never been in Portland before,” she said, “but I think that it could be a good destination for me and my family.”
“Lyseth
Elementary School is very excited to offer this groundbreaking
program,” said Lyseth Principal Lenore Williams. “All of our students
will benefit from hearing Spanish spoken every day in various school
settings.”
Immersion programs are the fastest growing and most
effective type of foreign language program in the country. More than
three decades of studies consistently show that students in immersion
programs achieve as well as or better than non-immersion peers on
standardized measures of verbal and mathematics skills administered in
English.
