First dual-language Woodstock School District 200 students to graduate

Starting first grade is daunting for many students, but Woodstock North High School senior Marshall Coalson remembers it to be quite literally incomprehensible.

“The first day I was there, [the teacher] started speaking in Spanish, saying ‘Hola’ and asking how we were in Spanish,” Coalson recalled, laughing to himself in an empty classroom at Woodstock North. “I had no clue what was going on.”

His first day was a big moment for him, but it also was a big moment for Woodstock School District 200, marking the first year of its now-12-year-old dual language program. Coalson is one of 20 students graduating after having gone through the program all 12 years. Eight more seniors started the program after first grade.

In education, dual language means students learn the various subjects in two languages, and for students in McHenry County schools, it means a portion of students are English speakers while the other portion are identified as dominant in Spanish. The goal is that students will leave school fluent in both languages and much more culturally aware than before.

Read more here - Northwest Herald