In the kindergarten hall at Buffalo Jones Elementary School, the blue sign on Yosdel Ibarra's classroom states, "Today, we are speaking English."

The statement might be unnecessary in most southwest Kansas classrooms, where speaking English is the norm. But for Ibarra's mix of native English speakers and those just learning the language, it's only an every-other-day occurrence.

Ibarra and Buffalo Jones' two other kindergarten teachers are involved in the dual language program the school is launching with its kindergartners this year, in which all the students in the grade level spend half their time in an English-speaking classroom and half in a Spanish-speaking classroom.

The idea is that students will catch on to the content they are learning, regardless of the language they are hearing and speaking, and that all gradually will become "bilingual, bi-literate and culturally-sensitive learners in all academic areas."

Because she is bilingual, Ibarra switches between languages herself, while other students switch between the similar-looking rooms of English-speaking Dalana Billinger and bilingual Lupe Granillo, who speaks Spanish in the classroom.

The program, made possible by a $438,141, three-year grant the school district won last year from the U.S. Department of Education's Foreign Language Assistance Program, is the school's staff initiative that has been in the works for a few years, with intensive planning work beginning after the grant was awarded about a year ago.

It is being phased in with this year's kindergarten class and will expand gradually to all grade levels at Buffalo Jones as the class moves up, according to program plans.

Research indicates that dual language programs are more effective than other methods of teaching English to speakers of other language, with the added benefit of bilingualism for the native English speakers who go through the program, according to a 2004 meta-study by Virginia Collier and Wayne Thomas of George Mason University.

At least one dual language program existed in the United States in 1962, but the concept has expanded significantly since the mid-1980s, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics.

The growth coincides partially with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994, when the federal government began promoting the development of the programs, and now the U.S. Department of Education awards grants like the one Buffalo Jones received.

Today, a database from the Center for Applied Linguistics last updated in November includes 338 programs.

Collier and Thomas write that to be effective, such programs should last a minimum of six years and should include a mix of native speakers and those who speak the other language -- Spanish in the case of Buffalo Jones and a vast majority of the nation's other dual language programs.

Buffalo Jones' program will be available only in the school's five grade levels -- kindergarten through fourth grade -- although Principal Rafaela Solis has expressed the hope that dual language can expand to other schools in USD 457 in the future. Classes for those who have gone through dual language is part of the long-term goals grant writers have developed, according to Assistant Superintendent Shelly Kiblinger.

Program Director Martin Segovia said kindergartners were tested on their English and Spanish abilities, and all the classrooms contain both English- and Spanish-speakers.

Although they only have been in school a few weeks, the kindergartners are starting to catch on to the idea, their teachers say. They explained the concept of switching between the languages at the start of the school year, and also have conducted meetings with parents for the past several months.

"They're really smart if you let them know what's going on," Ibarra said about her students. "They already know they're learning two languages."

Though parents generally have expressed positive views in interviews and at informational meetings, some said they were concerned that their students would fall behind if they were trying to learn content, perhaps in math or science, in a language they didn't understand.

However, the teachers said the students are able to follow along, even though they don't translate content into the other language, and they move on to the next lesson the next day.

Granillo said her students help each other, translating where necessary or explaining concepts in another way. She also enhances her curriculum with visual aids and other techniques to make the message clear, she said.