Becoming bilingual comes with many cognitive and social benefits. When you support your child's bilingualism, you invest in their future. For our native English speakers, DLI is a great enrichment. For our native Spanish speakers, DLI gives them the opportunity to learn English while not exhausting them with learning in an English-only environment. For all students, it gives them the opportunity to explore cultures, to be the language expert in one class and the language learner in another class, and to deepen their learning with the experiences and vocabulary of two languages.

Earlier this school year, we asked parents why they chose the DLI program and these are a few of their responses:

1. Knowing two languages gives people an advantage and makes them marketable. They will be able to get jobs, help people, etc. Hispanics are the number one minority in the U.S. and for this reason, knowing Spanish will help them.
   
2. My daughter can learn to speak Spanish since her parents are Puerto Rican.
   
3. To expose my child to as many languages and cultures as possible early on.
   
4. To keep my child evolving and to have a diverse way of thinking.
   
5. As a Hispanic mother, it is very important that children know how to read and write in Spanish and the language of the country where we are is also important. If you can know both it is much better.
   

1. To join our Parent Advocacy Group please complete this form: https://forms.gle/eSimwPhBm1mgJJ8f8
2. Support our mission by celebrating with us at our end-of-the-year Community Event on May 24 from 5:30-7:00 at Katherine Johnson Elementary!
3. Reach out to us with questions and concerns
4. Spread the word! Help others know what Dual Language Immersion is! Many people think that DLI is an ESL class or a world language class--but it is so much more because our students are learning with native Spanish speakers and with native English speakers and they are learning content as well as language in their classes!

1. Complete the ¡Hola Verano! activities to earn a prize at the beginning of the next school year. Your child should have come home with a paper copy with QR codes, but if they lost it, we have the links in this newsletter.
2. Asking them to tell you about things they see in their second language. For lower grades, ask them to describe things by color or shape. For upper grades ask them to put it in a complete sentence. If they get shy or don't remember, use resources to look up those words or phrases and help them practice!
3. Go to the public library and check out books in both languages.
4. Change the language preference on streaming services so that they are watching their shows in the other language.
5. Explore the resources on our website: https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/worldlanguage/duallanguage.html
6. Here are more resources: https://rb.gy/9shab