Tag: dual language

Principal of Urbana’s new multilingual school: ‘It’s really refreshing’

URBANA – About 16 % of the 300,000 English learners in Illinois are taking public school classes to become bilingual in both their first language and English.  Few of those schools are fully multilingual. One is in Champaign and after years of debate, Yankee Ridge Multilingual Elementary School opened in Urbana earlier this month. IPM

A 6-year-old grins at the camera in a pink t-shirt while her father holds her arm. Both are in a car.

Families have mixed feelings as Urbana opens its first fully multilingual school

URBANA — Felix Ayanbode has statistics at his fingertips for why his daughter should learn multiple languages.  His first grader, Faith, is learning to be bilingual in French and English at Urbana District 116’s first multilingual school, Yankee Ridge Elementary.  “When you know another language, you are able to have a peek into another culture.

Urbana’s school board paused its vote for one Spanish-English school. Now, dual language parents and teachers are setting a deadline.

URBANA – The Urbana school board will reconsider in January how to establish a fully dual-language elementary school for Spanish and English. This comes after renewed pressure from dual language teachers and families. The district currently has two schools with partial-building, dual-language programs. “White privileged families and community members can and do fight for justice