What is Dual Language Immersion?
Dual Language Immersion is a general education program designed to help students become biliterate and culturally competent in a global community.
The Utah State Dual Language Immersion Elementary Model follows a 50:50 model design where the instructional day in grades K-6 is divided between two high-quality classrooms, each for fifty percent of the instructional time. In this fifty-fifty model, students spend half of their school day in the immersion language and the other half-day in English. All state-sponsored programs are required to use two teachers, one who instructs exclusively in the immersion language for half of the day and a second teacher who teaches exclusively in English the other half of the day. In the elementary school it is a full-day comprehensive program.
Please visit the Utah DLI website for additional information.
Teacher Information
English Teachers
English teachers are required to have an Elementary Utah Teaching License. In addition, it is strongly recommended that English teachers have an English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement in two-way Dual Language Immersion programs.
Spanish Teachers
Spanish teachers are required to have an Elementary or Secondary Utah Teaching License or be accepted into the Alternative Routes to Licensure (ARL) program. Spanish teachers are also required to have a World Language Endorsement in the immersion language and a Dual Language Immersion Endorsement.
Spanish teachers often come from outside the United States and are only allowed to teach in the US for a certain period of time. There are several types of VISA's, which vary from country to country. Some allow teachers to stay for 3 years while others only allow them to stay for one year.
Substitute Teachers
Both English and Spanish Dual Immersion teachers are required to attend multiple meetings throughout the year that will take them out of the classroom, in addition to days where they are out for Parent/Teacher Conferences. During these days, along with personal and sick days, a substitute teacher must be found. Substitute teachers in Spanish classes must speak Spanish.