Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition

Program Overview

ISLA Los Sábados is a heritage language program for native Spanish-speaking children ages 4 to 14, providing culturally relevant Spanish-language literacy, science, art and outdoor education curriculum for 140 Pre-K through 8th grade students on Saturday mornings from October to June in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ISLA's cost-free program supports immigrant children becoming fully literate reading and writing in Spanish as essential to their English language learning, backed by research demonstrating academic, cognitive and social benefits that transfer from first language to second language acquisition.

Padres ISLA is a parent community resource group providing workshops, English instruction, resources, a speaker series and educational, cultural, health and wellness activities.

ISLA is a Latina-led nonprofit founded in 2012 with a mission of empowering Latino youth and families to become bilingual, global citizens through innovative heritage language and cultural immersion programs and connecting diverse communities. ISLA offers programs to open doors, build confidence for Latino youth and reframe Spanish literacy and bicultural identity and as assets for future academic and career pursuits. Since its founding ISLA has grown rapidly from one program with 12 students into multiple programs serving more than 450 children and 70 adults from six North Carolina counties.

ISLA programs include:

• ISLA Los Sábados--Heritage Language Program--For native Spanish-speaking children ages 4 to 14
• Padres ISLA--Workshops, resources and activities
• Spanish Hour--Stories, songs and games for elementary students to practice Spanish
• HUGS--Spanish immersion music program for infants and toddlers

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

Lady Johana Cuervo, ISLA Program Manager and former Heritage Language Program student:

"It's important to know a second language to be successful in any job, and to help people. ISLA gave me an opportunity to not only learn Spanish, but to learn how a nonprofit organization works."