In June 2022, St. Ambrose School in Annandale set a bold goal: make the entirety of their student body bilingual.
St. Ambrose School hosts the only dual language program in the Arlington diocese. In the dual language program, students spend half the week learning their lessons in English, and the other half in Spanish. “Students receive education in a subject in both English and in Spanish,” said Pablo Gongora, a native of Spain who teaches Spanish immersion for grades 1-2. “Everything is divided half-and-half in Spanish and English. They go to the English class with the English immersion teacher, and then the following day, they go to my class, to the Spanish immersion class.”
The program is offered through a partnership with Boston College, which works with a network of 30 U.S. Catholic schools, establishing dual language programs and training educators.
The benefits from this educational model are numerous, according to Laura Ruiz, a Spanish immersion teacher for pre-K-4 with a master’s in neuroscience. “What the school wants is that they are bilingual, that we have biliteracy, and that they’re bicultural,” she said. “It’s not just knowing the language.”
In her classroom, Ruiz sits with students on the carpet, with a green parrot puppet named Verde perched on her hand. Speaking only in Spanish, “Verde” walks students through an activity on arctic animals. “Everything’s in Spanish,” Ruiz said. “What I enjoy most is the ability to see the brain connections they (make) once they understand what I’m saying.”
The pre-K class that first started the program in 2022 is now in the third grade. Eventually, all grades will participate in the program, said Principal Aránzazu Ascunce, who came to the school in 2024.
Some families shied away from the dual language program at first. After the school adopted the program, a “mass exodus” of families left, according to Ascunce. “When I arrived, we were at the lowest enrollment within the history of the school at 120 kids,” she said. “It was like the last chance to save the school.”
Gongora added that some parents avoid the program if they don’t speak the language: “Sometimes people can be afraid of bringing the children into a dual language program, especially when the kids don’t grow up in a bilingual family.”
But Father Andrew J. Fisher, pastor, had a vision for the school and trusted in the program, Ascunce said. She worked to form partnerships with local community members — including nearby dual language preschools — and hosted open houses, “showing people what dual language looks like inside of a classroom.” It paid off. Enrollment rose by 30% over the next 18 months to 157 students today.
Today, Ascunce said waitlists are already forming for pre-K and kindergarten classes. And with a capacity for 272, she and Father Fisher have big plans in store. “My goal is that in five years, we will reach capacity,” she said.
Ascunce also plans to build a library over the next five years. And while the school has a small gym, Father Fisher hopes to build a larger building next to the school that would have a full-sized gym.
“Basketball is huge in Catholic schools,” Ascunce said.
While the school is small, the community is tight-knit and mighty. Every morning, students and staff start with prayer, led most days by Father Michael C. Nugent, parochial vicar. And with a ratio of seven students per teacher, “everyone knows your kid’s name and knows about you,” said Lindsay Bermudez, a school parent who joined the school staff this month. Her children, Millie (first grade) and Ruben (pre-K), have been enrolled for two years.
Bermudez said she’s seen the fruits of the dual language program, even at home. While her family’s primary language is English, Bermudez and her husband have begun speaking Spanish more frequently, and the kids catch on, she said. Millie has begun creating story books written in Spanish, she added. “She even wrote one about St. Ambrose and gave it to Dr. Ascunce. So, it’s just been really impressive to see what she’s already able to do,” she said.
The school is willing to go the extra mile for families in need, said Ascunce and Bermudez. “Our son, Ruben, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, so that was tough,” Bermudez said. “That was just in October, but the school has been so wonderful and flexible and just really open to getting whatever support we need for him.”
Looking ahead, Ascunce said she plans to continue building bridges between families and the local community. “We’re not a private school. We’re a Catholic school,” she said. “We want to make Catholic education accessible to as many families as possible.”
