The second annual Spanish Festival took place at Abacus School of Austin Campus I on Wednesday, April 27, 2016. Children in Preschool, Pre-K and Kindergarten participated in the festival. They wore colorful costumes and performed Spanish songs and dances. Close to two hundred parents, grandparents and friends were in the audience.
The Spanish Immersion Program at Abacus School of Austin was implemented to expose children to the Spanish Language and to Spanish Culture. Research on language immersion education has heralded benefits such as academic achievement, language and literacy development in two or more languages, and cognitive skills.
In general, research finds that immersion students whose first language is not English become more balanced bilinguals and develop higher levels of bilingualism and biliteracy when compared with English proficient students or home language peers participating in other educational programming.
Immersion children become proficient in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Spanish as well as English, and can use these skills for specialized programs in school, in the community, and later, in their careers.
