Can students survive in a class where the teacher only speaks a language they don’t know? Some San Francisco elementary school students have proven that they can.

Sophia Casey-Stewart is one of them. She attends Monroe Elementary School and like a regular third grader, she learns her subjects—but completely in Spanish. She learns an hour of English everyday, totaling five hours a week.

“Leer libros, tiempo en el circulo, y la hora del recreo,” Sophia said without an American accent, meaning “reading books, circle time, and recess” in English.

Sophia’s parents, who are not native Spanish speakers, strongly support her learning. “With Spanish Immersion (Sophia has) that opportunity if she wants to be somewhere else, there are many places in the world. And then that opens up job opportunities,” said Sophia’s mother, Monica Casey.

All over San Francisco, immersion programs help elementary school children achieve bilingualism. They were spearheaded by parents and supported by the San Francisco Unified School District. The first was in Spanish at Buena Vista Elementary in 1983. West Portal Elementary began its Cantonese Immersion program a year later. These programs soon became high in demand.

Today, there are 18 immersion programs throughout the SFUSD teaching Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. Many parents and teachers believe that students are exposed to a new culture and a wide variety of people. The SFUSD has stated it believes students receive the cultural and linguistic development that gives them an advantage in global society.

“Studies show students in language immersion programs do as well—if not better—than their peers in English-only classes in all aspects of academic performance,” said SFUSD spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. Students are taught academics in the language they are immersed in, and then taught an English section.

Sophia’s second grade teacher, Alex Aguirre, a Spanish Immersion teacher for four years, explained, “I want to accomplish bilingualism, the understanding and learning of two cultures and two languages.”

Aguirre said students begin in Kindergarten, learning Spanish 90 percent of the time, and English 10 percent. By fifth grade, they level out to a 50-50 Spanish-English ratio. “Immersion education is an organized curriculum to help students develop functional fluency and literacy in another language,” Blythe explained.

There are two types of immersion programs: Total Immersion, which exists only at Alice Fong Yu alternative school, and Two-Way Immersion, the program at Sophia’s school and other schools. Total Immersion classes are composed of only native English speakers, while Two-Way Immersion classes contain half English speakers and half native speakers of the language immersed in.

Although Sophia can speak fluently now, her parents worry about what will happen after elementary school. Three of 15 middle schools and two of 17 high schools provide immersion programs.

Blythe said programs might expand as parent interest increases. “In the meantime, students have the opportunity to take the language elective courses at high schools and some middle schools,” she said.

But to parents this is not enough. Sophia’s other mother, Annie Stewart, said, “Some of the teachers in (Sophia’s) school definitely believe (that) they need more.”