Language Immersion

Highly effective and successful for diverse groups of learners

Decades of research conclusively demonstrates that language immersion programs are highly effective and successful for diverse groups of learners. Tampa Bay International School is a partial immersion school, in which instructional time is divided equally between English and Spanish.  Mondays and Wednesdays are English days, in which instruction takes place solely in English. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Spanish days, in which instruction occurs only in Spanish. On Fridays we alternate, providing instruction in English one Friday, and in Spanish the next. In this manner, instruction is divided evenly between the two languages; speaking, listening, reading and writing skills are all developed simultaneously in both Spanish and English.

Tampa Bay International School values all languages and is proud of the multilingual makeup of our community of families and faculty. Spanish is a particularly practical language for a child to learn.

Why Learn Spanish?

To be able to communicate with the 548 million Spanish speakers on the planet, who speak the world’s second most common language.

To learn the second most widely spoken language in Tampa Bay, throughout Florida, and in the United States.

  • Over 20% of Floridians speak Spanish.

  • The Latinx population throughout Tampa Bay is expected to skyrocket by more than 25% over the next 15 – 20 years.

  • From 2010-2020, the Latinx population grew by 23% across the US and by 44% in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area.

Sources: US Census; Brookings Institute; Axios; Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council

A bilingual education has a multitude of benefits.

Beyond just speaking more than one language, bilingual students often display increased cognitive skills. Research has shown that advanced bilinguals hold many advantages over monolinguals. These include:

  • Enhanced selective attention (the ability to focus and tune out distractions)

  • Enhanced  executive functioning (the ability to organize oneself using working memory and self-control to achieve a task)

  • Enhanced metalinguistic awareness (knowledge of language and how it works)

  • Enhanced literacy skills

  • More divergent thinking (the ability to think creatively)

Sources: American Psychological Association

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Small Groups