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
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.
The Urbana District 116 Board of Education voted 4-3 on Tuesday to convert Yankee Ridge Elementary School into a fully multilingual school.
The idea for “Ava Saves The Day” occurred to Breyanna Grays while working with stroke and heart attack patients in emergency rooms.
For Briesha Jackson, the day is an intergenerational commitment.