Victorina teaches Our Amazing Earth to dual language learner in fourth grade at Las Palmas Elementary School.
According to a story on NPR, nearly 5 million students are Multilingual Language Learners. The article about the benefits of bilingual education, states that studies have found that “compared with English-only classrooms, dual-language students have somewhat higher test scores, better attendance and fewer behavioral problems. There is evidence that it also helps kids gain comfort with diversity and different cultures.”
Recently, Sierra Nevada Journeys brought its Classrooms Unleashed program to a couple of dual-immersion classrooms in the Sacramento area. With it, also came some rave reviews of the experience from teachers.
“Science has been a challenging subject to sell to students this year. Thank you for your amazing lesson! I think students were very touched to see you show up authentically as Venezuelan, Latina, and a scientist. They really enjoyed the lesson but you presenting the lesson also led to so much engagement from the students. We are so honored to have had you join us,” said Lynn Elisea Ayala, teacher with the Two-Way Bilingual Emersion class at Marguerite Montgomery Elementary School in Davis, California. Marguerite Montgomery Elementary School is part of the Davis Joint Unified School District and students who are part of their Two-Way Bilingual Immersion program students are biliterate by the end of sixth grade – they speak, read and write in both English and Spanish.
Venezuelan, Latina and scientist perfectly describes Victorina Arvelo, a core educator with Sierra Nevada Journeys. This past spring, Victorina taught watershed lessons in Spanish at Marguerite and Las Palmas, as part of Our Amazing Earth program where students become geologists and learn about patterns of change found on the earth's surface.
Las Palmas Elementary is part of the Twin Rivers Unified School District (TRUSD) and is one of two TRUSD schools that has a Dual-Immersion Program that also participated in our Classrooms Unleashed program.
Sierra Nevada Journeys has been partnering with TRUSD since 2017, where all fifth-grade students would attend outdoor school at Grizzly Creek Ranch. With the transition from distance learning to in-person learning as we transition out of the pandemic, Sierra Nevada Journeys has brought a variety of environmental education programs directly to the schools. “We’ve been working hard to meet the needs of the students and teachers,” said Sarah Barnes, Education Director with Sierra Nevada Journeys. “This past school year, we’ve shifted some of our focus to address learning loss, social-emotional learning and getting back to the core sciences lessons to help students be successful with the state science standards for their grade level.” Our Amazing Earth for their dual-immersion students is just one example of how we became creative with our programs with TRUSD.
There are similar positive impacts of dual language programs and environmental education programs like ours. Some examples include: helping students learn in new and effective ways; increased problem-solving skills, improved communication, and enhanced cultural awareness and diversity. By engaging students in a hands-on science lesson using Spanish language, students become more invested and the information is even more relevant to the students.
