Lexington City Schools’ Spanish Immersion Program has expanded. The program, which started at Pickett Elementary School, is now offered in two more kindergarten classes at South Lexington Elementary School.
The goal of the program is for students to be bilingual by the time they enter middle school. In the program, they learn to communicate by learning core subjects like math, science and English.
“I had just left a first grade classroom where we were talking about letter names and sounds and rhyming words,” said Nakia Hardy, Lexington City Schools Superintendent. “And, then I go into the Spanish Immersion classroom — where my Spanish is quite limited — and the babies are talking fluently to their teacher.”
The 4-year-old Spanish Immersion Program doesn’t have any prerequisites. If pre-K or kindergarten students want to join, they can sign up with a permission slip from their parents. Each class takes up to 20 students. Hardy said the classes are almost at capacity, but they are still accepting students, as they hope more students will participate in the program.
“It really is about immersing our students in the understanding of the culture and the experiences,” she said. “We know that those critical thinking skills are also going to help them, not only as they go through middle and high school, but when our babies graduate from Lexington Senior High School as a graduate of the Lexington City Schools immersion program, they’re going to be ready to tackle whatever they choose to.”
Hardy said next year, they will have two first grade classes at Pickett Elementary, and two more kindergarten classes at South Lexington Elementary that will start the program.
