GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Doty Elementary is teaching its youngest students differently this school year, enrolling kindergartners in a two-way bilingual program where English and Spanish-speaking children learn alongside one another — and serve as second instructors for their peers.
Langlade and Doty Elementary merged this school year, and school leaders used the moment to introduce the new model.
"It was just the perfect time to do it," said Julie Seefeldt, director of the multilingual learner program at Green Bay Area Public Schools. "The school itself of Doty is a growing Latino population, so we just knew it was the perfect place."
Working with community partners, school leaders introduced a kindergarten curriculum that immerses English and Spanish-speaking students in each other's language and culture. The students learn together, with fluent speakers of each language modeling for their peers.
"It's just a really neat environment for students," Seefeldt said.
Northeast Wisconsin Latinx Rising, a nonprofit that helped develop the program, says the benefits reach everyone involved.
"It's just great that the district's going in this direction," stated Arthur Gabriel Smeall, president of Northeast Wisconsin Latinx Rising. "Multilingualism is something that benefits everyone in the school."
Smeall cites research from the U.S. Department of Education that learning a second language boosts cognitive development and makes students more employable long term. He says starting early is key.
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Green Bay Area Public Schools has had bilingual classes since 1996, with the first two-way program starting in 2001. Doty becomes the second current GBAPS site to offer a two-way instruction model.
The approach is one Liliana Villarreal knows well. She runs bilingual classes at the YWCA, similar to one where she once built community as an attendee.
"Representation is really important,": Villarreal noted. "It's very different when something is just, like, translated for you and not made from the get-go thinking of you.
She says it's great to see more programs like hers in the community.
"We can all learn from one another," Villarreal said.
Doty plans to add another bilingual classroom next school year, continuing to expand until it offers the program in all its grades, kindergarten through fifth.
