Spanish Immersion

Stillwater Area Public Schools is proud to offer a dual language Spanish immersion program - Amigos Unidos - for students in elementary and middle school, with advanced Spanish course at the high school level.

The elementary program for kindergarten through fifth grade is housed at Lake Elmo Elementary, with the middle school program being housed at Oak-Land Middle School.

Students develop fluency in a two languages with the help of a bilingual teacher. Meeting Stillwater's high-level curriculum and instruction, elementary students spend the majority of their day immersed in the Spanish language. A typical day looks just like a regular classroom except academic instruction is delivered in Spanish. The four core subjects of math, science, language arts, and social studies are taught in Spanish, while specialist time in music, media, art, and physical education is provided in English. At the middle school level, students follow a typical schedule but have one or two classes instructed in Spanish.

Dual immersion is a great fit for both English and native-Spanish speaking students. Students can learn from one another in their native languages, while also learning from a bilingual instructor for two-way communication to build bilingual students.

Lottery Process for Acceptance Into Program

The Amigos Unidos (Friends United) Spanish Dual Language Program follows a model of dual language immersion. The goal is to have an equal mix of English speaking students with heritage or native Spanish speakers, ensuring bicultural, biliterate, and bilingual experiences for all. This includes students who first learned Spanish (or Spanish and English), have consistent interactions in Spanish, or whose parent/guardian identifies as a native Spanish speaker. Space in our Amigos Unidos program is limited so students are chosen through a tiered lottery process. 

Tier 1: Students who have another household member enrolled in the Amigos Unidos program
Tier 2: Students living within the Stillwater Area Public School District boundary
Tier 3: Students living outside the Stillwater Area Public School District boundary
Tier 4: Students who have been accepted into Early Entrance Kindergarten
Tier 5: Applications received after the deadline.

Heritage or native Spanish students receive selection priority.

* Those originally placed on the waitlist and later are notified of an opening, have three business days after the date of initial contact to respond with intent to enroll in the program. If a decision is not shared with the District by the end of the third business day, the invitation expires and the next student on the waitlist will be invited.

The lottery date for Amigos Unidos coincides with the district’s Enrollment Office lottery for alternate enrollment in mid-January.

PLEASE NOTE: Transportation is ONLY provided to students living within the Lake Elmo Elementary and Oak-Land Middle School attendance boundaries. Hub Stops are available for families living outside of  attendance boundaries to drop their children off, and pick them up, at a location closer to home to catch a shuttle to and from school. 

Enrollment questions? Contact our Enrollment Office at 651-351-8412 or enrollment@stillwaterschools.org

How Students Can Benefit from Dual Language Immersion

• Language skills: Students can be expected to reach high levels of language proficiency in both their native language and their second language.

• Test performance: Immersion produces successful learners who demonstrate strong performance on standardized achievement tests administered in English.

• Cognitive skills: Dual-language learners demonstrate strong communication, collaboration, creativity and critical-thinking skills; as well as an enhanced understanding of their primary language.

• Cultural sensitivity: Immersion students tend to have a strong understanding of, and appreciation for, diverse cultures and share a broad worldview.

Research consistently demonstrates that the dual immersion experience actually enhances language development in both languages. It should be noted, that in full immersion students’ English development may lag temporarily in reading, word knowledge, and spelling while instruction is occurring exclusively in Spanish. However, this lag is temporary and to be expected. Research indicates that by the end of fifth grade students generally score noticeably higher in math and literacy on standardized tests than students in traditional programs.