![CA-Recorder-Mobile-CR-2025[54].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/09587f_b989949ec9bc46d8b6ea89ecc2418a8a~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_370,h_150,al_c,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/CA-Recorder-Mobile-CR-2025%5B54%5D.jpg)
![CA-Recorder-Mobile-Mission-2025[26].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/09587f_9ea6e7e6084c40cc9b62653360503cbc~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_370,h_150,al_c,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/CA-Recorder-Mobile-Mission-2025%5B26%5D.jpg)
Mount Kisco Elementary stages bilingual ‘Jungle Book’
By Maïna Durafour
Mount Kisco Elementary School, part of the Bedford Central School District, is a Dual Language Bilingual Education School. Its program teaches about 500 children K-5 in both English and Spanish.
Students recently performed a musical version of “The Jungle Book” with a twist: it was performed in both English and Spanish.
On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, students from the fourth and fifth grade presented the bilingual version approved by Disney.
Carolyn Scimone-Rowan is the general music teacher at the school and the musical director of the play. She said about 70 children took part in the show, with another 10 who took care of the lighting and the sound. Scimone-Rowan said she thinks about two-thirds of the fourth and fifth graders were involved in the play.
“We had several kids whose language scores really went up just by being in our play and spending four hours a week singing and dancing and speaking lines in both languages,” said Scimone-Rowan. “That’s kind of a win-win when you’ve got a beautiful thing to offer to kids to be able to learn stagecraft, but at the same time they’re working on their language skills.”
She said that during the summer, she and four other teachers spent time on both the English and Spanish script to create a version that used both languages. Students are used to flipping back and forth between the two languages. They wanted the play to also be a way for students to improve in the language they are less familiar with.
Scimone-Rowan said that music in general is a big part of the school curriculum as they use it a lot to learn vocabulary. She feels that the musical has been an important part of the learning process for students, especially for those who may have had struggles before. But it is also a good way for students to learn to combat their shyness and fear of public speaking.
“I feel like our program is really helping students academically and that’s the exciting part,” she said. “The other part that’s so exciting to me is the social aspect for these kids and the ability to feel empowered and to feel brave.”
The school has been working with the Disney Theatrical Group for the second time to produce a dual language musical.
“I’m not providing a musical that disenfranchises half of my students because they don’t speak English well and don’t feel comfortable being in a play that’s all English or that they’re not ready to be,” she said. “We’re encompassing all students. All students can do this, and all students are doing it well.”
Another aspect of doing this play is that it allows Scimone-Rowan to teach her students about another place in the world with a different culture, as “The Jungle Book,” written by Rudyard Kipling, was largely inspired by India.
“My students in school learned about all of the Indian instruments. They learned about Indian culture. They learned about the geography of India,” she said.
According to Eleana De Luna, the school principal, the goals are to promote high academic achievement, bilingualism and cultural proficiency.
“There are many other DLBE programs in the region, but very few DLBE schools. Being a DLBE school provides us with the unique opportunity to embrace this as our identity and make all decisions from this perspective,” De Luna said. “We value both languages equally and celebrate bilingualism as our superpower.”
The children are learning the exact same curriculum as other schools in the area, the only difference is that they alternate between Spanish and English. Students are divided into the two zones, the English and the Spanish zone. Every other day, the student are flipping back and forth between the two languages, following the school curriculum.
“One of the main difficulties is ensuring that students develop proficiency in both languages at an equitable pace, especially given the diverse language backgrounds of the students,” De Luna said. “It can also be a challenge to provide sufficient resources, such as bilingual materials and trained staff, to meet the needs of all students effectively.”
However, the program’s success depends also on the students and their interaction with each other. As Scimone-Rowan mentioned, it would be hard for the school to succeed without having a community of people that speak the languages taught.
“The formula for having a dual-language school is to have a certain percentage of kids that speak one language and a certain percentage of kids that speak another language,” she said. “Students are teaching students. They’re learning together by sharing their more comfortable dominant language with each other.”
