The cartoon adorned the office door of a college Spanish professor: A mouse barking like a dog to scare a way a cat. The caption read: “See, children, it pays to know a second language.”
At West End Elementary, twenty-four kindergartners will get the chance to learn to communicate beyond their mother tongue. Beginning in the new school year, West End will introduce its first Spanish Immersion kindergarten.
Principal Leigh Ann McClendon has done her research. Last year, Associate Superintendent Kathy Kennedy asked McClendon to visit the language immersion program at New Century International Elementary School in Fayetteville.
McClendon was amazed at what she saw. She immediately requested permission to begin a similar program at West End.
“We have done a lot of research, screening of candidates and interviews,” McClendon said. “We are partnering with VIF International Education Company out of Chapel Hill.”
West End currently has an opening for a kindergarten teacher. McClendon has conducted interviews to hire a native Spanish speaking teacher.
“This is not an additional position — this is based on my enrollment,” she explained.
Partnering with VIF has helped provide McClendon the support she and the Moore County School System needs to implement the program. “
It is an awesome opportunity for our students,” she said. Nineteen students have already signed up. Any family with a rising kindergartner is eligible to enroll. Enrollment is open until June 1; if more than 24 students enroll, students who make the class will be chosen by lottery.
“We will have a full class of twenty-four students,” McClendon explained. “The twenty-four kindergartners will stay together, year after year, until they complete fifth grade. By fifth grade, all students will be bilingual. Each year we will add a different Spanish speaking teacher, until we have a full Spanish Immersion Program in grades K-5.”
The curriculum truly involves immersion in another language. “The instruction will start slowly in Kindergarten, until the students are able to understand,” McClendon said, noting that the understanding comes quickly. “The students will most likely be able to understand full instruction [in Spanish] by November.”
“Ninety percent of the day will be spent in with instruction in Spanish,” McClendon explained. “English instruction will make up the other ten percent, with classes in art, music, physical education, lunch, and recess allowing time for interaction with their peers.”
Not until second grade will the students have their first English class. Parents are expected to read to their children every night in English.
“English is around these children most of the day,” McClendon said. “They listen to radio, watch television, and speak English at home. Some transfers happen naturally when they start hearing different expressions. What research is showing is, by the time language immersion students take the EOG, they are outperforming their peers.”
During visits to Charlotte and Fayetteville, McClendon and Moore County Schools [MCS] Senior Staff members saw firsthand the impact Spanish Immersion classrooms can have on students. The kindergartners participating in this program will graduate from high school in June 2026 speaking and reading English, Spanish, and, hopefully, another language they will take in high school — creating the possibility of them being trilingual as they enter college.
Exposure to language, culture, and knowledge is so readily absorbed at Kindergarten age, McClendon said. But it is important not to leave anyone out. With the PTA’s help, the whole school is getting a colorful global makeover.
“We are running the SPLASH global gateway in the two other kindergarten classrooms,” McClendon said. “Each grade level will also focus on a continent. The students will learn about, reference, and make comparisons and contrasts of curriculum they are being taught. By fifth grade, students will have a good knowledge base of our world.”
“We want our students to know that there is more to life, and opportunities can reach beyond West End, North Carolina, and even the United States,” she said. “The idea is to make our students globally competitive in their future.”
For more information regarding the program or if you have a child entering Kindergarten at West End Elementary, contact the school at 910-673-6691.
