Garden City ? The ranks of Spanish-speaking students are growing at Jennie Wilson Elementary School, but not for the usual reasons.

Like schools in many southwest Kansas districts, Jennie Wilson saw its enrollment of pupils from Spanish-speaking homes rise a few years ago. But instead of simply offering bilingual education to those children, the school also began teaching some native English-speakers in Spanish.

The dual-language program has earned high marks since it began three years ago, when a kindergarten class became the first to be conducted half the time in Spanish and half in English.

As that class advanced, dual-language classes were added in the first and second grades.

“The intent is that by the end of fourth grade, the children who’ve been in the program will be biliterate and successful in both languages,” Principal Maurine Kozol said.

Jeff Sanders’ second-grade son, Daric, is among the native English-speaking children in the program. Sanders said he had considered transferring Daric to another school to ensure he was getting the best possible education, but the boy objected.

“He was really upset,” Sanders said.

So Daric remained at Jennie Wilson this year. His son loves the program and comes home singing Spanish songs and reciting new terms, Sanders said.

Pupils in the program have two teachers, one who teaches them in English for half of their class time and one for the hours they spend speaking Spanish.

Daniel Garcia is the Spanish-speaking teacher for the kindergarten dual-language program.

On a recent day, Garcia was teaching the alphabet and vocabulary to the 20 youngsters seated around him. He held a small toy telephone in one hand and the letter “T” in the other.

“Telephone,” the children shouted.

“En Espanol, por favor,” Garcia said, asking them to repeat the word in Spanish.

Back came the cry: “Telefono!”

Garcia said his pupils’ performance had been a happy surprise.

“They are doing the same things in the classroom but in two languages, and they are doing wonderful,” he said.

At Jennie Wilson, which houses pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, the need for bilingual services arose when boundary lines in the district were redrawn in the 1997-98 school year.

In response, the school sought and received a $400,000 federal grant to start the dual-language program; an application for a second three-year grant is pending.

Parents and teachers said youngsters now conversed in both languages. And despite learning in two languages, students at the school still achieved state-set benchmarks on assessment tests, the principal said.

“The data supports what the intent of the program is,” Kozol said. “The students are showing growth in both their English and their Spanish.”