Susan B. Anthony Elementary School will open this fall with California’s first Hmong language immersion class – part of SCUSD’s ambitious plan to graduate high-achieving, bilingual and bicultural students ready to compete in the future global marketplace.

A grand opening ceremony for the Hmong Dual Language Immersion Program will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday, September 1), at the school, 7864 Detroit Blvd.

The opening event will include cultural performances, food and classroom tours.

The Hmong immersion class is the latest in SCUSD’s innovative slate of language immersion programs. This week a Mandarin Chinese program opened at William Land Elementary School. In a language immersion class, students in kindergarten are taught primarily in the target language, such as Spanish, Hmong and Chinese.

As students progress through the grades, they are taught less in the target language and more in English, reaching all-English by fifth grade. Years of research shows that students in language immersion programs are more successful at school, scoring higher on standardized tests given only in English than their counterparts taught only in English.

WHAT:  Hmong Dual Language Immersion Program Grand Opening Ceremony

WHEN:   6 p.m. TONIGHT (Thursday, September 1)

WHERE:  Susan B. Anthony Elementary School, 7864 Detroit Blvd.