February 4, 2002
Desert Willow Elementary School Shows Off for Spain
By Cristina Ladas, Director of World Language Programs in Cave Creek Unified School District
During a recent visit from the Embassy of Spain’s Regional Representative, Sra. Mariola Sanchez Cascon, Desert Willow School student ambassadors toured groups of educators through the Spanish Immersion Program that spans from Preschool through 6th Grade. In order to maintain the Cave Creek school’s accreditation from Spain as an International Spanish Academy (ISA), an embassy representative must visit annually to ensure the quality of the program.
Desert Willow Elementary School (DWES) is in its 17th year of implementing the Spanish Immersion program and has generated quite a following with a lottery system for entry and ensuring waiting lists. In addition to hosting the Embassy of Spain that day, other educators from AZ Department of Education and neighboring school districts attended in attempts to see a fully implemented program in action.
Students in the Spanish Immersion program spend 50% of their day learning in Spanish with a Spanish teacher and 50% in English with an English teacher. The result? A bilingual and biliterate student that exemplifies multicultural understanding and has a deeper sense of who they are in the world.
If you missed the Lottery meeting at DWES for the August 2020 Kindergarten class on January 30 from 5:00-6:00, there are other newer language immersion schools in Cave Creek School District. There is a French Immersion program at Desert Sun Academy with its Lottery meeting on February 5 and a Chinese Immersion Lottery meeting at Horseshoe Trails Elementary School on February 6, both from 5:00-6:00. Or call 480-575-2000 for more information.
DWES student ambassadors take visitors through Spanish Immersion classrooms during the Embassy of Spain tour day. Visitors here were from Kyrene, Laveen, Higley and Phoenix school districts.
The CCUSD93 Superintendent Dr. Burdick welcomed Embassy of Spain’s Regional Representative, Sra. Mariola Sanchez Cascon to Desert Willow Elementary School.
DWES Principal Staci Wiese presented the DWES Spanish Immersion model to a room full of educators from across the Phoenix metropolitan area.
DWES Principal Staci Wiese presented the DWES Spanish Immersion model to a room full of educators from across the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The DWES Spanish Emersion Model of a cell made by a student (labeled in Spanish) was just one example of project-based learning approach used in this innovative educational model.
Best,
Julia Scotto
Executive Assistant to
Dr. Debbi Burdick, Superintendent & Governing Board
Cave Creek Unified School District
480.575.2016 Phone/480.575.2092 Fax
jscotto@ccusd93.net
“You are what you do, not what you say” – C.G. Jung
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