The La Fuente Student Center, which offers Springs’ dual immersion Spanish English 50/50 program for grades TK-8, has a new location: 700 E. Bobier Drive, Vista, CA (located on the campus of Faith Lutheran Church and Preschool).
The new location will allow La Fuente to serve a larger number of students, said Principal Amy Heald. School begins August 29; applications are now being accepted. La Fuente is a public charter school, so it is a tuition-free charter school program. Highlights for the 2016-17 school year include the creation of a school news program and online tutorials for Spanish learners with La Fuente students producing and starring in the show and tutorials.
La Fuente opened in 2014. As a dual language program, students learn in English and Spanish, with an emphasis on family involvement. The program incorporates learning through activities, such as cooking Latin dishes and Salsa dancing, and local field trips. Weekly visitors come on campus to teach children about different cultures, careers and adventures, taught alternatively in English and Spanish. One recent visitor was Molly Elkins, who taught students and staff to dance the Charleston. Another was a linguistics student from UCLA, who taught students about a celebration in Spain called Día de los Innocentes (similar to April Fool’s Day).
Tours of the school for prospective students and their parents are conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. There are also four Community Nights, and free Spanish and English classes for parents on Thursday evenings throughout the school year.
“Communication is the foundation of learning,” said Principal Heald. “Why not do that in two languages and have twice the fun communicating?”
She noted that students do not need a background in Spanish to be successful at La Fuente. It is a 4-day a week program. For additional information, contact Amy Heald at (951) 319-1737 or amy.heald@springscs.org.
