Batesville, IN — The Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC) is pleased to announce it has been chosen as the 2020 recipient of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA) Wide World Award for Distinguished Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Program, according to BCSC Assistant Superintendent Melissa Burton.
According to Burton, the Mandarin dual immersion program is in its fifth year, with the inaugural class now in fourth grade at the Batesville Intermediate School (BIS). “Starting in kindergarten, participants in this program are instructed in both English and in Mandarin, giving them a unique experience not offered at any other public school corporation in our state.”
BCSC’s program gives the students a 50/50 split in instruction, with students moving between two classrooms, one English-speaking and one Mandarin-speaking. The curriculum must also meet all other Indiana academic standards.
BCSC was recognized for its achievement at this year’s IFLTA Fall Virtual Conference “All IN: INnovate INspire INclude” during a gala presentation of both the Indiana Global and Multil-IN-gual Awards and the Teacher of the Year Award on November 7, 2020. Introducing BCSC at the awards ceremony was Caterina Blitzer, former global learning and world languages curriculum specialist at the Indiana Department of Education and a current member of the IFLTA Global and Multil-IN-gual Awards Committee.
