In the fall of 2001, Banting became a district site for a Spanish Bilingual Expansion program. We started with bilingual pre-school and kindergarten classes.  Banting had the most space available in the district at the time and was chosen as the school for the Spanish bilingual program to expand. Each year, Banting receives a new group of students and the students proceed through the grades. The students are taught in Spanish starting in pre-school and kindergarten. During this time, they are naturally immersed in the English language all around them. In addition to being immersed in an English school environment, first through fifth grade students also receive English as a Second Language instruction from a qualified instructor. We believe students first need to learn (speak, read and write) one language well, before they are able to learn (speak, read and write) another. We have found that the culture at Banting is one that is truly supportive of English Language Learners. The ELL students are well on their way to becoming truly bilingual individuals. For the majority of students, the transition to learning in English is in the intermediate grades.

The Two-Way Dual Language (DL) kindergarten class began in the Fall of 2009. Two-Way DL classes are comprised of half English speakers and half Spanish speakers. Beginning in kindergarten, ninety percent of the classroom instruction is in Spanish. The percentage of English instruction increases each year until 4th & 5th grades when Two-Way DL students will receive 50% of their classroom instruction in both languages. A Two-Way Dual Language program provides our English speaking children the opportunity to learn a second language, through academic content, alongside native Spanish speaking peers. Spanish speaking children have the opportunity to be instructed with English speaking student models, while developing their language skills through academic content. The optimal window of learning a second language is during a child's primary years while their brains are sponges. Both groups will benefit from the multicultural aspect of the program.

Si necesita cualquier información, por favor comuníquese con la Sra. Gabriela Bell Jiménez, Coordinadora del Programa llamando al  262-970-1085 o la envíe un correo electrónico a gbell@waukesha.k12.wi.us.