Choosing a dual-language kindergarten can feel like a big leap, especially if your family speaks only one language at home. You might be wondering: Will my child feel comfortable? How will they learn in two languages? Will they be ready for kindergarten academics?
At Escuela de Guadalupe, most families seeking a dual-language kindergarten actually start a year early with our dual-language pre-kindergarten program. The pre-K program is designed to be a warm, welcoming on-ramp to dual-language kindergarten.
This is the story of that bridge to kindergarten from the perspective of Miss Shelley, one of our pre-K teachers, and Kimberly Larsen, an English-speaking parent whose two children both began at Escuela in pre-K and are now thriving in kindergarten and first grade.
“Number one is relationships:” Meet Miss Shelley
Walk into Miss Shelley’s Pre-K classroom on any given morning and you’ll feel it right away: uplifting energy, clear routines, and a teacher who knows each child, and their family, by name.
For Miss Shelley, the program starts with connection. She works intentionally to build trust with every family, because she believes that strong relationships are the foundation for everything else: language development, social skills, and academic readiness.
“I feel like making a good relationship with the families is the number one thing for me,” she explains. “Because if you don’t have their trust, it doesn’t work.”
With 20 children and two full-time teachers plus a part-time support staff member, the classroom is small enough for children to be known, but large enough to feel like a real community. Families see the same faces every day, and over those months, trust and comfort grow, for parents and children alike.
How the Pre-K curriculum works: “Studies” that touch every learning domain
Escuela’s dual-language pre-kindergarten uses teaching strategies and a creative curriculum, organized into four- to five-week “studies.” Each study explores a big, kid-friendly topic like clothing, insects, trees, buildings, or balls and weaves in all the domains of learning.
In one study, children might be:
- Building science and math skills by measuring the length of scarves, comparing shoe sizes, counting buttons, or sorting clothing by season or pattern.
- Practicing early literacy through stories, vocabulary, and comprehension activities connected to that study. (ie. hearing the same book in both English and Spanish so they understand the storyline and begin to connect words across languages.)
- Developing fine motor and creative skills as they draw, cut, glue, and build related projects. (ie. designing their own outfits, sketching insects, or creating “buildings” from blocks.)
- Growing social–emotional skills as they share materials, take turns in centers, and learn classroom routines within a predictable, safe structure.
Miss Shelley and her co-teacher stay with a study as long as the children are engaged. If they notice interest fading, they move to a new topic. When the class is fascinated—say, by insects or buildings—they might stay longer, diving deeper into questions four-year-olds love to ask.
A typical day in pre-K follows a steady rhythm so children feel secure:
- Morning arrival and free exploration, when children settle in, choose activities, and reconnect with teachers and friends.
- A brief religion moment that introduces simple Catholic concepts in age-appropriate ways.
- Circle time, which often includes teacher-led yoga or other gross motor movement, helping little bodies regulate while building listening skills and community.
- Rotations through centers like the Block Center and Fine Motor/Writing Center, where activities are tied to the current study and layered with both languages.
- Outdoor play both in the morning and the afternoon.
- Math and Science every afternoon when nap time is over.
- Departure between 4 and 4:15 pm.
It’s a full preschool experience intentionally designed to set children up for the demands of dual-language kindergarten.
How two languages grow
One of the most common questions parents ask is: “How will my child learn in a classroom where both English and Spanish are spoken?”
In Escuela’s pre-K, the priority is early literacy in each child’s home language—English for some, Spanish for others—because strong first-language skills actually support second-language learning. At the same time, children are immersed in the second language all day in low-pressure, age-appropriate ways.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Miss Shelley reads a story in English while her co-teacher reads the same book in Spanish. Then they switch groups, so every child hears the same story in both languages and begins to connect meaning, images, and vocabulary.
- Classroom labels, songs, and routines appear in both languages. Children might sing counting songs in Spanish in the morning and an English song during another part of the day.
- Seating is intentional: teachers often pair an English-dominant child with a Spanish-dominant child so they naturally model language for each other in play.
Some children jump right in and start using words and phrases in their second language early in the year. Others hang back at first, quietly absorbing. Miss Shelley sees both patterns every year.
She notes that some English-speaking children “really thrive and love Spanish and learn it really fast,” while others seem more hesitant, even though they actually understand a lot more than they’re willing to say out loud. By the end of the year, though, families say that their children are singing songs in Spanish at home, naming everyday objects, or using words they’ve picked up at school.
“Parents are really enthused about their children learning a second language,” she says. That excitement grows as families start to hear the evidence at home, such as new vocabulary popping up at the dinner table, or a familiar prayer suddenly repeated in Spanish.
This gentle, immersive approach is designed to open the door to bilingualism, so that when children enter Escuela’s dual-language kindergarten, the experience feels like a natural next step rather than a jarring change.
A parent’s perspective: Kimberly’s story
Kimberly Larsen’s family speaks English at home. She studied Spanish from kindergarten through college, even spending time abroad in Madrid, but as she puts it, her Spanish “is not good enough to teach [her] kids.”
When it was time to choose a school, she had several clear priorities:
- A dual-language program so her children could become bilingual in Spanish.
- A school with a low teacher-to-student ratio and individualized attention.
- Strong academics that prepare her children for rigorous learning throughout their academic careers.
- Passionate teachers and a community that helps instill strong values.
She also believes deeply in the practical and human value of bilingualism. Kimberly sees Spanish as “a good communication skill to have,” important because so many people across the world speak it. Her family loves to travel, and being able to communicate in Spanish matters to her both for travel and for developing a deeper understanding of other cultures.
Still, she admits that, at first, she was nervous. Because they weren’t speaking Spanish at home, she wondered whether her children would really absorb the language just from school. She’d read that children can learn another language just by hearing it up to around age nine, but she hadn’t seen it in practice and wasn’t sure it would be enough.
Now, watching her older child in first grade, she can see the progression clearly:
- First came comprehension—understanding what teachers and Spanish-speaking classmates were saying, especially phrases repeated in routines.
- This year, she sees growing speaking skills: her 1st grader can answer simple questions in Spanish and respond in short sentences.
When she asks whether her child understands Spanish-speaking friends, the answer is an easy “yes.” That’s the pre-K and early elementary immersion at work.
Kimberly says her children mostly think this is just normal school. Their classmates speak Spanish around them all day, every day. At the same time, she makes sure they understand how special that is. She tells them that not everyone gets the chance to learn another language and develop that kind of cultural awareness.
Additionally, academics were non-negotiable for Kimberly and her husband, and she’s been reassured by Escuela’s strong track record in reading and core subjects. Those high expectations are also reflected in the school’s accreditation by the Association of Colorado Independent Schools (ACIS) and the Pre-K program’s 4-Diamond rating from Colorado Shines—both external signals that the program meets rigorous standards of quality in instruction, safety, and child development.
Just as importantly, she’s felt at home in the community. School events are lively and diverse, with families from many backgrounds sharing traditions and stories. Even when two parents don’t share a language, people “manage to piece together a conversation” and the atmosphere remains “very warm and welcoming.”
As she puts it, “Whenever anybody asks where my kids go, I have great things to say about Escuela,” and she’s quick to recommend the school to other families looking for a dual-language program.
A strong foundation for dual-language kindergarten—and beyond
Escuela de Guadalupe’s dual-language pre-kindergarten class helps build the foundation for a full dual-language journey. Children leave Miss Shelley’s classroom with:
- A strong base of early literacy in their home language.
- Growing comprehension and vocabulary in their second language, plus songs, routines, and stories they can carry into kindergarten.
- Confidence in a school environment where two languages and multiple cultures are completely normal.
- Relationships with teachers who know their families well and are invested in their success.
All of this is proof that you don’t need to be bilingual to give your child a dual-language education. The structure of the program, the intentional curriculum, and the supportive community are built precisely so monolingual families can step into a dual-language path with confidence.
If you’re considering a dual-language kindergarten in Denver and wondering how to start, pre-K at Escuela de Guadalupe is designed for exactly that first step: welcoming, structured, academically strong, and intentionally bilingual from the very beginning.
