Dual Language

The Watertown Unified School District offers a PreK-9 dual language program that will be expanding through grade 12 in the year 2026-2027.  Dual language programming is offered at Schurz School beginning in 4-year-old kindergarten, and continues through Riverside Middle School and Watertown High School.  The dual language program values the equal acquisition of two languages, English and Spanish. Students participating in this program spend half of the day learning academic content in English and half of the day learning academic content in Spanish. Dual language classrooms develop bilingual, biliterate and bicultural students, who are able to achieve proficiency in both English and Spanish within an environment that embraces diversity and strives for excellence.

Who is Eligible to Participate in the Dual Language Program?

Students from native Spanish speaking backgrounds who are identified as ELs are entitled to participate in the dual language program. Those students must go through the EL screening process and will be enrolled in the program if they qualify as native Spanish speaking students.

Students from English-speaking homes/backgrounds are eligible to participate in the dual language program beginning in 4K.  Students will be selected for dual language programming through a lottery.

Students are eligible to enter into the dual language program at the 4K or kindergarten level. If a student is coming from a dual language program in another district, he or she will be assessed to determine if the WUSD’s dual language program is the best placement. Placement in the program will be determined on the student's abilities and if space is available.

Benefits of Dual Language

Research on Dual Language Education suggests the following brain benefits for students:

• Improved cognitive function

• Increased focus and memory

• Problem-solving skills

• Deeper awareness of language and identity

 Our highly qualified, specialized, bilingual teachers provide rigorous instruction for all learners.

Studies are conclusive on the positive long term effects upon the brain development and health of bilingual individuals.

Students with special needs will excel in the dual language program as they would have in a monolingual English only program.  Research positively supports the inclusion of students of all abilities in dual language programming.

• Academic -

  Our students, whose home language is English or Spanish, achieve high levels of success in both languages.

The Multiple Benefits of Dual Language 

• Cognitive -

  Bilingual students perform better on tasks that call for creative thinking, pattern recognition, and problem-solving. Bilingual students also have greater linguistic awareness and a more complex understanding of their native language.

Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power

Juggling Languages can Build Better Brains

The History of Our Dual Language Program

Consistent with Wisconsin State Law [115.96 (4) (a-b), Wis. Stats.], Students who enter school as English Language Learners are offered specific instructional programs and supports to acquire English and Academic Proficiency.  

The Watertown Unified School District has historically interpreted the law to value students' home language and culture as tools to promote their academic success.  The commitment to these learning environments has grown to meet the needs of the growing Spanish speaking population as well as the population of the other language speakers represented in the WUSD from K4-12 grade.  While access to programs that offer either ESL or both ESL and Bilingual, that is learning through two languages, has expanded throughout the district and grade levels, these programs have become inclusive of students who are not learning English as their second language in order to prepare students for the ever-changing, interdependent world in which diverse cultural and linguistic groups converge.

Program Goals

The dual language program offers students from 4K-9th  grade (expanding to grade 12 in 2025-2026) an academic pathway towards their biliteracy that will lead them to:

• Full Bilingualism in Spanish and English

• Literacy in both Spanish and English for social, academic and professional application

• Academic proficiency in both Spanish and English

• Multicultural and Global Competence ensures students the ability to understand their own and other’s perspectives, identify their own and other’s cultural assets, communicate proficiently with diverse audiences, and the ability to advocate/take action for a more just and inclusive community.

How It Works

We emphasize building a community of learners. 

Starting in 4-year-old kindergarten, students engage with their teachers and classmates in an environment where Spanish is the modeled instructional language and the mode of communication between the teacher and students and between the students.  Fifty-percent of foundational lessons are conducted in Spanish to build early learning skills in Spanish literacy and numeracy, social-emotional wellbeing, and community culture.

English Learners (EL)

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