TThe 4+1 in Childhood Education in Languages, Literatures and Cultures provides University of Delaware Early Childhood Education (ECE) students with the opportunity to take graduate courses that could count towards both the ECE major and the Master of Arts in Childhood Education in Languages, Literatures and Cultures. This interdisciplinary masters degree, with coursework in pedagogy, language, and culture, trains candidates to teach in the dual-language immersion classroom. With this 4+1 plan and the proper scheduling of graduate HDFS courses, students may enter immediately into the MA program in the College of Arts and Sciences upon completion of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in ECE, full-time, with the possibility of completing their MA within one year. State of Delaware teacher certification in a world language is optional and requires passing the Praxis II exam in the target language (e.g., Spanish). This certification may or may not be recognized in other states.

Undergraduates in the University of Delaware ECE major may apply for admission to the 4+1 program after completing 60 or more credits (normally, in the fall of their junior year). Admission decisions will be based on GPA, work experiences, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, maturity, and a personal interview. There is also a proficiency requirement in the target foreign language (Minimum: Intermediate-Mid on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, or 43 points on the Versant Language Assessment).
It is generally expected that students will have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.25 and a major GPA of 3.5 or better, and they will have an academic advisor who will strongly support his or her application to the program. Admission is competitive, so meeting the minimum requirements for admission does not guarantee admission, nor does the failure to meet a requirement result in an automatic rejection. Provisional admittance will be granted by the Office of Graduate and Professional Education. Upon completion of the undergraduate degree, the provisional status would be removed.

Students in the 4+1 program will complete all requirements for the undergraduate major in Early Childhood Education. However, the four-year curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education, when taken as part of the 4+1 program, contains required graduate courses that prepare the student for completion of the Master of Arts curriculum. With this 4+1 plan and the proper scheduling of courses as an undergraduate, students may enter immediately into the MA program full-time with the possibility of completion within one year. Students who plan to apply to the 4+1 should work closely with an advisor in their freshman and sophomore years to schedule the required 4+1 courses properly.

UD Early Childhood Education undergraduate majors who are provisionally granted admission to the 4+1 BS/MA program in Childhood Foreign Language Education and subsequently admitted to the 4+1 program may waive the requirement to take HDFS 406 Supporting Literacy in Early Childhood Education (3 credits) by completing HDFS 606 Early Child Literacy Skill Development (3 credits). They will also replace a focused elective at the 400-level (3 credits) with HDFS 621 (Family Studies I: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives). Content of the courses waived in the undergraduate program is addressed in greater depth and placed in the larger scholarly context in the corresponding graduate courses. For any undergraduate course requirement to be waived, the student needs to earn a grade of B (3.0) or better in the corresponding HDFS graduate course.

HDFS 606	Early Childhood Literacy Skill Development	3
HDFS 621	Family Studies 1: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives	3

   +1 year courses in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

SPAN 601	Advanced Spanish Language	3
SPAN 665	Reading Workshop	3
SPAN 668	Spanish and Latin American Children's Literature	3
LLCU 629	Methods of Teaching Foreign/Second Languages in                   Elementary Schools	3
LLCU 626	Foreign Language Pedagogy Research Seminar	3
SPAN 675	Topics in Hispanic Culture and Civilization	3

   Courses taken on approved study abroad program during the summer
   immediately after completion of BS requirements, or during the winter of
   their +1 year (chosen in conjunction with advisor; all courses taught in
   Spanish)

SPAN 667 Topics in Spanish Language (Linguistics, Advanced Oral Communication, or Phonetics) (3 credits)
SPAN 675 Topics in Spanish/Latin American Culture (3 credits)

Candidates must pass an oral proficiency test at the end of the program, and submit a Teaching Portfolio.