Dual Language Program

 

At Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, we honor and value the diverse cultural and linguistic assets of the community we serve. We raise the status of multilingualism by grounding our program and instruction in relevant educational research and ensuring it is responsive to the evolving needs of our community. We believe a deeply effective and equitable bilingual education must be multi-faceted and integrated. It is aimed at amplifying the voice within our students while cultivating joy, pride, curiosity, and sociocultural competence. To that end, our students learn to read, write, and effectively communicate in both Spanish and English.

 

Our schools offer a challenging and enriching learning environment that fosters the necessary biliteracy skills for students to access the world beyond their scope and strengthen the upward trajectory of their lives. As a result of our efforts, Camino Nuevo students are prepared not only to excel in college and career but to make a positive impact on their community as bilingual and biliterate agents of change. 

 

 

CNCA’s approach to teaching foundational skills in our dual language and biliteracy programs are based on key principles from Biliteracy research and the Science of Reading.

 

Because Camino Nuevo primarily serves a student population that enters our schools speaking a language other than English, the plan for foundational skills development in English was created to reflect the principles above and incorporate both language development and systematic foundational skills instruction. The plan begins with an emphasis on oracy (oral language) development in Kindergarten through the use of content-based read alouds and shared reading/writing, with some instruction of non-transferrable phonics skills in English. Through grades 1-3, teachers continue to focus on oral language development with a heavier emphasis on incorporating more frequent opportunities to practice non-transferable English phonics skills.

 

In order to ensure alignment and consistency across CNCA schools and to realize CNCA’s vision for Dual Language Education in grades TK-8, teachers and administrators commit to the following guiding principles:

1. Rigorous, standards-aligned instruction for all students

2. Develop academic language across contents and languages

3. Foster metalinguistic awareness through language transference

4. Commitment to responsive assessment practices

5. Commitment to continuous learning

6. Authentic partnership with families