We are excited to see how our students are thriving in the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Program! Our classes are full of discourse and conversation as students learn the content in their Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts classes in English and in Spanish. It is exciting to watch a native Spanish speaker present a science experiment in English, with the language supports provided by his teacher, just as we love to listen to a native English speaker explain her mathematical reasoning in Spanish. These are the fruits of our labor, and we are all working together for the academic success of these children: their teachers, their families, the students themselves, and the DLI team. Thank you for your ongoing support and please share your child's successes with us!

When the DLI program started in Newport News public schools in 2013, Helen Small, our supervisor at the time, had a vision to enrich education for as many students as possible by providing opportunities for them to learn in two languages. This program gave native Spanish speakers the opportunity to learn to read and write in Spanish and to learn the academic vocabulary of their native language. It helped increase the communication abilities within families, and helped children continue to connect to and value their heritage while learning about other cultures. Simultaneously, it gave native English speakers the opportunity to learn to read and write in a second language, while also learning both social and academic Spanish from their peers and teachers. They gained insight into other cultures and deepened their understanding of their own heritage.

Over the last 10 years, the program has grown beyond Helen's expectations thanks to the DLI teachers, the innovation of our new supervisor, Susanna Bailey, who secured a DoDEA Grant to support a program expansion, district leadership, the staff and administrators in the schools that house our DLI classes, and our DLI families. We have been overwhelmed by the success stories that we have heard from students and their families. We want to hone and unite our vision as a DLI family as we move into the next decade of Dual Language Immersion at NNPS. After consulting our Parent Advocacy Group, staff members, and other stakeholders, we have created a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement that encapsulate our goals for the students we work with:

NNPS DLI vision is to inspire a lifelong love for learning while building bridges across language and cultures.

The mission of the NNPS DLI program is to empower multilingual learners through enriching academic bilingual and biliterate experiences while fostering an inclusive and diverse community that celebrates all of our cultures and unique identities.

Based on what YOU have told us in our surveys, we have adjusted our plans for our family engagement events, partnered with the public library, and gathered more resources.

We continue to learn and improve based on your input. We all want what is best for your children; the more we can work together as a team, the more successful we will be!

Susanna Bailey: susanna.bailey@nn.k12.va.us

Supervisor for World Languages and DLI

Paola Mendizábal: paola.mendizabal@nn.k12.va.us

DLI Instructional Specialist

Sarah Olsen: sarah.olsen@nn.k12.va.us

DLI Instructional Coach