Learning
Dual Language Immersion
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Dual Language Immersion at UCLA Lab School
UCLA Lab School’s Spanish–English Dual Language Program extends from Early Childhood through Upper. Students learn through both Spanish and English in inquiry-based classrooms that integrate language development, literacy, academic content, and conceptual understanding. Teachers build on students’ linguistic and cultural strengths and use developmentally responsive strategies to support students at different stages of bilingual development. The program shares UCLA Lab School’s schoolwide curriculum, learning goals, and commitment to educating the whole child.
Watch to Learn More About Dual Language Immersion
Core Beliefs
List of 4 items.
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Language and Culture
Being bilingual (or multilingual) and valuing cultural diversity is an advantage in our global society -
Experiential Learning
Children can best learn academic concepts and a second language in an integrated, experiential context -
Language Skills
Many language skills are transferable between English and Spanish -
Conceptual Understanding
Conceptual understanding is transferable between languages
Goals for Students
Dual Language Immersion Model
Spanish is emphasized during the early years of the program. The balance of Spanish and English instruction shifts developmentally across the levels, with students engaging in increasingly balanced instruction in both languages as they move toward Upper. The allocation of languages supports continued Spanish development while ensuring strong literacy and academic learning in both Spanish and English.List of 5 items.
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90 / 10
Early Childhood I
(ages 4–5) -
80 / 20
Early Childhood II
(ages 5–6) -
70 / 30
Primary
(ages 6–8) -
60 / 40
Intermediate
(ages 8–10) -
50 / 50
Upper I & Upper II
(ages 10–12)
List of 5 items.
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Early Childhood I (ages 4–5)
- Children develop oral Spanish through relationships, play, songs, stories, inquiry, and daily classroom routines.
- Teachers nurture phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and emergent literacy.
- Children’s home languages, cultural knowledge, and varied levels of Spanish proficiency are recognized as resources for learning.
- Integrated learning experiences support language, social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development.
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Early Childhood II (ages 5–6)
- Children continue developing oral language and emergent reading and writing in Spanish.
- Explicit literacy experiences build phonological awareness and understanding of sound-symbol relationships.
- Teachers help students make developmentally appropriate connections across languages.
- Inquiry, play, literature, and integrated content provide meaningful contexts for language use.
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Primary (ages 6–8)
- Students develop reading, writing, speaking, listening, comprehension, and mathematics in Spanish.
- Explicit literacy instruction helps students understand patterns that transfer across languages as well as features that are distinct to each language.
- Students use both languages to investigate ideas, build academic vocabulary, and communicate their thinking.
- Language and content instruction are responsive to students’ different experiences and levels of proficiency.
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Intermediate (ages 8–10)
- Students strengthen increasingly complex reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, mathematics in Spanish and English.
- Teachers intentionally support cross-linguistic connections and the development of academic vocabulary.
- Students use language to analyze texts, explain reasoning, participate in inquiry, and communicate across content areas.
- Learning includes engagement with diverse cultures, perspectives, and varieties of Spanish.
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Upper I & Upper II (ages 10–12)
- Students deepen their Spanish and English proficiency through literacy, mathematics, inquiry, and interdisciplinary learning.
- Students read, write, discuss, present, and explain increasingly complex ideas in both languages.
- Instruction supports purposeful transfer of knowledge and skills across Spanish and English.
- Students develop confidence, agency, and sociocultural awareness as bilingual and multilingual learners.
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