SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — If you have a child that will be starting kindergarten in the Sioux Falls School District next fall, there’s a program you may want to know about.

Some Hayward Elementary students are learning in both English and Spanish.

Right now, two sections in each grade K-3 are in the Spanish two-way immersion program.

Half are native Spanish speakers and the other half are native English speakers.

“Half of their day is taught in Spanish by one teacher and half of their day is taught in English by another teacher and those two classes flip,” Hayward elementary principal Derek Maassen said.

DeeDee Jessen and Stephanie Romero both teach kindergarten.

“It is always busy because we have 54 students that we share between two classes,” Jessen said.

“It’s amazing how they look for ways to communicate with the other kids who don’t speak their language. I feel like as they try to make friends and play with the others they get to learn more language and they ask each other how to say some words,” Romero said.

The program is in its fourth year at Hayward.

Eventually, the two-way immersion program will span grades K-5.

Parents of incoming kindergarteners can apply for the program now.

“It just benefits two huge groups of people. It benefits our native Spanish speakers tremendously. The stronger they can get in their native language the easier it will become for them to learn English. They’ll make connections across their brain at a lot higher rate if they become very fluent in their native language first. It’s also helping our English speakers learn another language,” Maassen said.

Rosa Parks Elementary also offers the two-way immersion program.

The program is different from the Sonia Sotomayor Spanish immersion program.

That allows students proficient in English to get all classroom instruction in Spanish.