"Bilingual education ensures that students who are native English speakers get the necessary grounding in core academic subjects while making the transition to all-English classes."  Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education, 1995

Bilingual Education programs serve children who have a language other than English in their homes and need help learning English.  The program also benefits English speaking children who may participate to become proficient in two languages.  Six hundred Bilingual teachers are needed in Texas each year to meet the needs of limited English proficient pupils.  This shortage of certified bilingual teachers will continue for years to come.

The Department of Curriculum & Instruction offers the bilingual education program at the undergraduate level.  After successfully completing the program, students will be certified to teach in both a bilingual and regualre classroom at the elementary level.

EC-4 Bilingual Generalist

Students must have completed at least 60 hours of coursework to be admitted to the Education "Core" Block and should have only four "long" semesters left before graduation.

Semester One Bilingual Block 1: Fall semester

• CI 3332 Foundations of Bilingual Education
• CI 4361 Psychological Foundations of Bilingual Education

Semester Two Bilingual Block2: Spring semester

• CI 4360 Teaching the Bilingual Content Areas
• CI 4362 The Elementary Bilingual Content Areas

Education "Core" Block

• CI 3310 Public Education in America
• CI 3315 Human Development and Learning Theory
• RDG 4320 Literacy Education for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children 

Semester Three Field-based Block

• CI 3322 The Design and Application of the EC-4 Curriculum
• RDG 3315 Assessing Reading and Writing
• RDG 3321 Developmental Reading for EC-4

Additional courses that can be taken:

• CI 4325 Classroom Management and Teacher-Student Relationships
• SPED 4344 Educating Students with Mild Disabilities

Semester Four

• RDG 3312 Reading and Writing Instruction for Children with Special Needs
• RDG 3320 Integrating Reading and Writing
• CI 4350 Mathematics in the Integrated Elementary Curriculum

• ED 4380 Directed Teaching (Elementary)
• ED 4387 Directed Teaching (Kindergarten)

At the Graduate level, the Curriculum & Instruction Department offers a bilingual education program, as a specialization or as a supplementary certification.