HOLLAND—Addalingua LLC announced the Dec. 1 addition of a new series of dual language education products designed for programs outside schools.
The Spanish language frameworks for grades K-2 and accompanying self-paced training modules include language targets, mini-lessons, student tools, and “how-to” videos to help dual language and immersion teachers balance language and content-area instruction more effectively.
Officials at Addalingua say the new product offers more flexibility for educators working in broader immersion and dual language contexts, now that flexibility to meet student needs in the era of COVID-19 is a must.
“We set out to make learning academic content in more than one language the norm rather than the exception for K-12 students in the United States,” said company co-founder Stacey Vanden Bosch. “Before the pandemic, we thought that designing and implementing our own brand of dual language education was the way to do it. Already beginning to strategize how best to expand our reach and mission last January, COVID-19 only accelerated our timeline. We have so many resources that have been fine-tuned in the proving ground of our partner schools and we knew those resources could be adapted to make a positive difference in other dual language programs. We simply needed to find a way to make them more accessible.”
Fellow co-founder Lilah Ambrosi added, “Given that 30 states have dual language programs with Spanish as a target language, we wanted our first release in this series to focus on building academic Spanish skills and linguistic stamina in the lower grades. We’ve seen the degree to which students in our partner schools gain bilingual proficiency when teachers set high expectations and implement the Spanish language frameworks. We want other dual language programs to experience those powerful results too.”
COVID- 19 also forced Addalingua to transition all professional learning into interactive virtual classrooms. “Fortunately, online learning is something most have had to become comfortable with, and many may actually prefer in the end,” Ratti said.
Founded in 2009, Addalingua began with one partner school in Michigan and grew to 27 partner schools in nine states. More at addalingua.com.