Boise State News March 12, 2021
Rosa Gonzalez in her Summit Elementary classroom in Jerome, Idaho. Photo by Carrie Semmelroth.
Rosa Gonzalez’s fourth grade dual-immersion classroom at Summit Elementary in Jerome, Idaho, is filled with the sound of nine-year-olds speaking Spanish. A lesson on Costa Rican jungle animals is up on the screen in front of the class. As Gonzalez asks questions about the animals, students eagerly raise their hands to answer in Spanish. After their morning lessons, Gonzalez’s students will cross the hall to co-teacher Jodi Ostler’s classroom for lessons delivered in English.
As an elementary teacher in a general education classroom in 2017, Gonzalez noticed the need for bilingual teachers in her rural school district as dual-immersion programs were becoming increasingly sought after by local parents. Many of her students and their families were native English or Spanish speakers, and studies have shown that children who learn in dual-imm