Imagine finishing elementary school already possessing a skill that many American college graduates wish they had.

This is a reality for students who attend Bellevue’s Puesta del Sol Elementary. From kindergarten to fifth grade, children are immersed in Spanish language for all their classes, everything from math to humanities. It’s the same education any other student in the district would receive, just in another language.

After attending Puesta del Sol, if they wish to continue, they’re able to study at Tillicum Middle School’s International Spanish Academy and Newport High School Advanced Placement Spanish program.

And the students who go through these programs are not just students of Mexican or Latin American ancestry, either. In fact, few are.

Only 2 percent of Puesta del Sol’s 530 students are of Hispanic descent according to the Bellevue School District. Only 4 percent of students speak a language other than English at home. In other words, most students speak and hear Spanish from their classmates and teachers, who are mostly all native speakers, at school, and then go home and speak English with their parents.

“In a way, our parents have to take a leap of faith, because they can’t always help with their students’ homework in ways that they’d be able to otherwise,” said principal Mark Migliore.

However, staff members are well aware of this trend, and students are instructed so that they’ll be able to complete their homework independently or receive the help they need at school. It’s also convenient that Spanish is more phonetic than English and has vowel sounds that are more logical to young learners, Migliore said.

In kindergarten and first grade, most of the students don’t know any Spanish so they’re allowed to speak in English if need be. But by second grade, students are expected to communicate sólo en español. Starting in third grade, students receive one hour of English instruction to prepare them for middle school.

“The skills are transferrable,” said Blythe Young, a world language curriculum developer for the district. “Once you know the math concept, you know it no matter what language it is.”

Young, who has a first, third and fifth grader at Puesta del Sol, said her children are “off-the-charts excited” about Spanish and learning languages in general. She grew up speaking some Spanish as a child and has been pleased with how fluidly her children go from one language to another even at home, or speaking with their siblings.

“It’s opened up a whole new world, a whole new community, a whole new perspective for them,” Young said. “When my older daughter was 5, she said,’I really want to learn Chinese, too.’ As a world language person, I said that’s great, but I asked her why. She said, ‘So that when I go to China I can talk with all my Chinese friends. Then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ You got it, no problem.”

So in addition to Spanish, Young’s children pursue their love of language with an after-school Chinese program.

The benefit of getting a child excited about speaking another language is apparent.

For example, in 2010, 92 percent of Puesta del Sol’s fourth graders met the standard in math. Looking at Bellevue’s performance as a whole, which is already a high-performing school district, only 74 percent of fourth graders met that same math standard. In fact in all testing categories, reading, math, writing and science, Puesta del Sol’s third, fourth and fifth graders are statistically more high-performing than the districtwide average.

Researcher shows Spanish immersion can open new pathways in the brain for children and that even without the dedicated parent support that many students at Puesta del Sol have, students in immersion programs just tend to be more academically successful in standardized tests, and in other ways as well.

Jason Benda, who teaches in the Spanish program at Newport says he’s seen the benefits that 13 years of Spanish can have in a young person’s life firsthand. Benda works with the dedicated students in the last phase of their immersion studies in the school district, many of whom start off at Puesta del Sol.

“Many of them are basically able to have a minor before they even start college,” Benda said. “These kids e-mail me, and as freshmen in 300-level classes, they know more than juniors and seniors in their class.”

A head start on a college degree isn’t the only door that Spanish language unlocks. Students who go through all three schools will be able to take a test through the Spanish embassy in their 8th and 12th grade years known as the Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language exam.

If they pass, they’re eligible for travel, study and work in Spain. All it takes is sticking it out all three programs.

“When people are thinking about how long they wanna stay in this program, and say, well my kid doesn’t need to go on because they already speak Spanish, I always say, ‘Well, yeah, they know how to speak it like a fifth grader,” Young said.

It may take a while, but the benefits of Spanish language are endless for a young adult, Young said.

“By the time they graduate from high school, they’re fluent in so many ways: bi-literate, bicultural and almost like heritage speakers. These kids are just fantastic and so impressive.”

All Bellevue School District kindergarten registration, including Spanish immersion kindergarten, begin Jan. 24.

Important dates:

Jan. 19 – Spanish immersion kindergarten information night at Puesta del Sol at 6:30 p.m. in school’s gym.

Jan. 24 – Districtwide registration for kindergarten, including Spanish immersion, begins. Lottery cards may be picked up at the Puesta del Sol office.

Feb. 16 – Deadline for lottery registration. Lottery cards, birth certificate, and required proof of residency must be returned to Puesta del Sol office by 3:30 p.m on deadline date.

March 1 – Lottery, if required, will be conducted

March 3 – Lottery results will be posted in the Puesta del Sol office. Parents whose children were selected through the lottery into the Spanish Immersion Program should pick up registration packets from the school office. The school does not mail registration material.

Gabrielle Nomura be reached at 425-453-4602.