Building bilinguals: Families get inside look at K-5 dual-language program

About a dozen parents gathered at Eastview School on Tuesday for an informational presentation about the White Plains City School District’s elementary dual-language program, whose goal is to create bilingual, bicultural, self-confident, lifelong learners.

Yolanda Rodríguez, the district’s director of World Language and Multilingual Learner Programs (K–12), walked the families through the structure, goals and application process for the district’s K–5 dual-language program.

The district offers the innovative program in three of its five elementary schools — Church Street, Post Road and George Washington — beginning in kindergarten.

“This program is directly aligned with our district mission to educate and inspire all students while preparing them to thrive in a diverse, multilingual world,” Ms. Rodriguez told parents, noting that White Plains has offered dual language instruction since 2007 and is frequently visited by other districts seeking to learn from its model.

She explained that the district uses a two-way immersion, 50/50, side-by-side model.

Students who are English-dominant learn Spanish alongside classmates who are Spanish-dominant or bilingual and are learning English. Instructional time is evenly divided between both languages.

Each grade level includes two adjacent classrooms — a Spanish-zone classroom and an English-zone classroom — staffed by two certified teachers. Students rotate between the two rooms on alternating days, following the district’s A-through-F day cycle.

Lessons are not repeated in the second language; instead, teachers use intentional “bridging” strategies to connect concepts learned the previous day and keep students progressing with the same curriculum as their peers across the district.

“The goal is not just bilingualism, but biliteracy and biculturalism,” Ms. Rodriguez said, emphasizing that students learn to read, write, speak and think academically in both languages. “They are meeting the same New York State standards in math, science, social studies and literacy — just through two languages instead of one.”

She also highlighted the instructional resources used in the program, including bilingual literacy curricula, phonics programs tailored specifically to English and Spanish, science instruction and standards-aligned math materials.

Ms. Rodriguez noted that all dual language teachers are state-certified, many with bilingual or multilingual certifications, and that kindergarten classrooms are supported by full-time instructional assistants.

Parents also were guided through the application timeline.

Families interested in the dual-language program must first apply through the district’s Controlled Parents’ Choice process and are strongly encouraged to list all three dual-language schools among their top choices to increase the likelihood of placement.

Once accepted into a school, families receive a separate dual-language application from that building. Final placement decisions are made at the school level, with sibling priority considered, and families are typically notified during the summer.

Ms. Rodriguez stressed that while the program is highly sought after and often has waiting lists, families may list all three schools to increase the likelihood of being accepted -- though it does not guarantee placement in a DL Program.

Throughout the session, she encouraged parents to be patient with the language-learning process, particularly in kindergarten, where students may initially demonstrate more listening comprehension than speaking ability.

“Language acquisition takes time, just like when children first learn to speak,” she said. “With consistent exposure, strong instruction and support from families, students grow naturally and confidently into two languages.”

You can read more about the elementary program and kindergarten registration by clicking here and viewing the fact sheet. To learn more about the dual-language program, visit the Dual Language webpage.