Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School has been gaining a lot of curiosity from local News outlets. Our Lady of Guadalupe Schools, located in Deer Park and Central Islip, have a dual-language immersion program offered to their Nursery, Pre-Kindergarten, and starting in Fall 2022 to their, Kindergarten students. Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School is partnering with Two Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools, TWIN-CS at Boston College.
TWIN-CS is a national initiative to share dual language research, ideas, techniques and resources with the goal of supporting students in becoming bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate. The network’s innovative design and programming enables students to maintain their language and culture, while systemically transforming schools from monolingual to multilingual modes of education.
From Newsday on February 21, 2022
“Two on Catholic grammar schools on Long Island were church struggling with enrollment, so church leaders came up with a bold plan: turn them into a bilingual, dual language school.
Six Months into the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s first venture into dual language programs, the dual-campus Our Lady of Guadalupe in Central Islip and Deer Park is thriving, with waiting lists in some grades, including nursery and pre-K, school officials said.
The school is getting support from Boston College and Notre Dame University, and recently hosted a visit from El Salvador’s consul general for Long Island, who said he would report back to the Central American nation’s president about the project.”
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From CBS News on March 7, 2022
“…[O]n Monday parents and teachers told CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan about a bold plan to go bilingual one grade at a time, beginning at age 4, that has revived two parish communities…
“The mission of the school is so beautiful and I think it’s catching on,” said Dr. Valerie Serpe, head of Our Lady of Guadalupe School.
Six months in, Serpe says Our Lady of Guadalupe sister schools in Central Islip and Deer Park are suddenly thriving with waiting lists for nursery and pre-K.
A student named Alana told McLogan she enjoys speaking in English and Spanish.
The Roche family speaks Haitian-Creole and English. Now, son Cedrick is bringing home Spanish.
“A lot of opportunity for him in the future,” mother Berlyne Roche said, adding when asked if her son will be trilingual, “Oh yes, he will. That’s fantastic.””
Curious about our dual-language program? Our Lady of Guadalupe School is offering private, in-person tours and Zooms for families interested in enrolling children for Fall 2022.