Students and teachers in the English-Spanish Dual Language Immersion programs at Alta View and Silver Mesa elementary schools made quite an impression on special guests who visited Thursday. After observing the DLI classes in action, Lourdes Orueta Mendia, an Education Attaché from the Consulate General of Spain, and José Juan Rodriguez, an Education Advisor from the Spanish embassy, came away impressed with the students, teachers, schools, and Utah’s DLI program. (They also loved that Alta View’s faculty room had a big hunk of jamón, the famous Spanish artisanal ham, for teachers to snack on.) Rodriguez called his experience with the Utah DLI kids “brilliant.”Their busy schedules allowed them to spend time with Señor Jorge Lopez’s fourth-grade class and Señor Javier Azcárate’s third-grade class at Alta View. They also observed Señora Silvia Mesa’s first-grade class at Silver Mesa. They were accompanied by Ofelia Wade, the Spanish Dual Language Immersion Program Director for Canyons and Utah, and CSD Board of Education Co-Vice President Steve Wrigley. They enjoyed seeing students sing, speak, listen, and learn en español. The special guests, who work with the Spanish embassy and consulate to help provide teachers from Spain, are getting an up-close-and-personal view of the DLI program to see how things are working, build relationships and discuss areas of improvement. Rodriguez was awed with the students’ level of comprehension and the teachers’ production. “It’s great to see how the program works,” he said. “I’m glad to have seen this.” While Rodriguez lives in the U.S. and oversees the Spanish DLI program for Utah, Colorado and Wyoming as a technical adviser, Mendia is here as a diplomatic representative. Her visit includes stops from Seattle to Salt Lake City to Wyoming. She’d heard of the “Utah Model,” which she believes offers an example for other states, and was thrilled with what she witnessed at Canyons District. “I didn’t expect them (the students) to have such a great level (of proficiency),” she said. “They understand everything and they also are able to speak in a very comprehensive way. I’m really impressed, and I congratulate the school and the children. We want to say thank you to Utah!”
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