Garden Oaks uses a transitional bilingual model to support students whose dominant language is Spanish in their acquisition of English. The transitional bilingual program is specifically designed for students who are not yet fluent English speakers (in other words, these students are “emergent bilinguals”) with the goal of facilitating their transition to all-English instruction by the upper grades. (i.e., If your child already speaks English fluently, this program will not be the best fit for them, even if they also speak Spanish.)

In the early grades, the focus of a transitional bilingual program is on literacy and learning in their dominant language (Spanish) with subjects taught in English for a small portion of the day. The percentage of English instruction increases each year, as students grow in the acquisition of their second language. Students are taught in Spanish and English by bilingual certified teachers and are instructed using the same Montessori methods as other students. We are lucky to have multiple bilingual teachers who are also fully certified Montessorians and to be able to provide an authentic, bilingual Montessori education to our emergent bilingual students!