• Union County Public Schools is committed to providing immersion students with a K-12 pathway. As students transition from elementary to middle school, the focus of language begins to shift from content-based instruction to language-based instruction. For information about our K-5 immersion programs, please visit our page entitled, What is Language Immersion? The middle school dual language immersion pathways listed below are for students who have completed an elementary dual language immersion sequence, or those who qualify to enter at the middle school level based on strong literacy skills in the language other than English.  Students can enter DLI classes at middle school if they pass a Late Entry Assessment. Additional information is available on the bottom of the page entitled, Admission Guidelines. 

    Middle School Immersion

    • Rising 6th Grade Information Meeting - will be held on April 24, 2023 at 6:00 PM. To join, vist https://bit.ly/6thDLImeeting. No registration required.

    Students who choose the Dual Language Immersion elective in middle school will specialize in this course and will have it alongside physical education class. The chart below shows the progression of classes from middle to high school. 

    Typically in middle school sixth grade students participate in a 6-week rotation through various classes such as art, music, drama, computer skills, etc. In seventh grade typically students stay in the same class for a semester, and in 8th grade students get to choose a year long course. All middle school students participate in physical education classes in grades 6-8 in addition to the electives mentioned above. Students who choose band only have band and physical education each year during middle school. 

     dli ms pathways

    Middle School Dual and Heritage Language courses address culture and language within content-based instruction about global competencies, cultural knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. Vocabulary development and grammatical accuracy are embedded in course content. Literacy skills continue in listening, reading, speaking and writing. Instruction is in the target language. The AAPPL (ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages) assessment is used to measure students’ proficiency at the end of 8th Grade. Dual Language Immersion proficiency expectations are provided by the NC Department of Public Instruction and can be viewed here. Participate Learning has created videos for UCPS to orient parents to the global content curricula. To view the videos, click the links below.

    High School Immersion

    There are various pathways students can take in high school, depending on their proficiency levels when exiting 8th grade. Students will take the AAPPL assessment near the end of 8th grade as well as a UCPS placement test. Results from these assessments will be taken into consideration for a student's placement level when entering 9th grade. High school registration takes place before these assessments have been given. The recommendation is for all students to register for level 3, and then adjustments can be made for individual students once results from the AAPPL and UCPS placement test are received.

    The images below represent sample pathways that students can take, but individual student schedules will vary based on availability of courses and other potential schedule conflicts based on what students choose.

    mandarin pathways

     

     sample spanish pathways

     

    This page is available at http://bit.ly/UCPSDLIMSHS.

  • North Carolina Global Languages Diploma Endorsement

    (North Carolina's Seal of Biliteracy)

    Students have the opportunity to earn a Global Languages Endorsement on their high school diploma. 

    Students must meet the following requirements in order to earn the Global Languages Endorsement diploma seal:

    1. Complete 4 years of high school English with an unweighted GPA of 2.5 or higher.
    2. Demonstrate competence in a world language through one of the following ways:
      • Successfully complete level 4 of a world language with an unweighted GPA of 2.5 or higher
      • Pass the Credit by Demonstrated Mastery process for level IV of a world language
      • Demonstrate competency via an external exam taken in high school or for placement in a high school world language course.

    For additional information regarding this process, including a list of the state-approved external exams, please visit NCDPI's Global Languages Endorsement page. 

    global language endorsement