ORLANDO, Fla. — Learning a new language can be difficult, and it arguably gets harder as you get older. But students in an Orange County two-way dual language program are now coming out of elementary school well on the way to being bilingual.

Since the 2016 school year, Orange County Public Schools officials have been trying to foster bilingual literacy, starting with some students in select schools as young as kindergarten. The district's dual language program allows students to learn core subjects like social studies or language arts while being completely immersed in the Spanish language.

“They make it really easy for us to learn," said fourth grader Logan Guthrie. "Sometimes it’s hard, but we get through it."

Logan starts his day in Ibelisse Shepard’s class, where math and language arts are taught in English. He, along with many of his classmates, come from Spanish-speaking homes, so if a concept in isn’t clicking, they will occasionally help each other in Spanish.

“When the students come to my classroom, they can bring in what they know in Spanish," said Shepard, who teaches the English-speaking class at Wetherbee Elementary. "And they can make that transfer, which at the end of the day, that’s the main goal."

After spending half the day with Shepard, students head over to Martha Robaina’s classroom. There they learn language arts, science, and social studies in Spanish.

“We do the same standards that are taught in the mainstream classroom, but we do them in Spanish,” said Robaina. “We don’t translate the text, we work the text in Spanish using the same standards.”

Officials say the goal is for students whose first language is English to be bilingual by the time they exit the program. 

As for students who come from Spanish-speaking homes, the program benefits them too as they learn to read and write in Spanish.

According to the Department of Education, students who are not proficient in the English language are 20% less likely to graduate from high school.

However, because of the collaborative nature of OCPS’s dual language program, the program director says students are testing 10-20% higher than those not in the program.

Members of the school faculty say they hope students will continue gaining language skills through middle and high school. Finally, when they graduate high school, they can receive a seal on their diploma, showing their biliteracy to jobs and colleges.