Oakland, CA, August 1, 2008 – Escuela Bilingüe Internacional, northern California's first independent Spanish immersion school, was just voted by Bay Area Parent readers as the "Best Foreign Language Immersion Program," and "Best Preschool." The full-color glossy publication boasts a readership of 180,000 and is often referred to by Bay Area parents as a guide to the best activities, family services and shopping locations.

Bay Area Parent's Best of the Best guide came out in July.

EBI, located on 410 Alcatraz Avenue in the Rockridge district of Oakland, is about to enter its third year of operation with 115 students in preprimary, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. It eventually plans to extend up to 8th grade, adding an additional grade each year.

In the school's immersion setting, children are in a Spanish-only environment in preschool. They receive one hour of English instruction in Kindergarten and 1st grade, and two hours in 2nd grade, after, which they will be taught half their subjects in Spanish and the rest in English. The program ensures that children gain native fluency in both languages by the 8th grade.

EBI also received a $25,000 grant by the Mary Crocker Trust to implement the prestigious International Baccalaureate curriculum (www.ibo.org) and plans to teach conversational Mandarin to students in the 3rd grade.

EBI (www.ebinternacional.org) is the first independent Spanish-English dual-immersion program in northern California and the first of its kind in Oakland. EBI's nonprofit mission is to provide an excellent Spanish-English bilingual education based on the highest international academic standards in a diverse environment that encourages global citizenship.

For more information, please contact Elisa Batista at (415) 305-6217 or ebatista at ebinternacional dot org.