BUFFALO, N.Y. — Many kids, at some point during their schooling, will take classes for another language, but does an hour a day actually help you retain what you learn?

Sometimes, the best way to learn is to dive in head first.

“The students in my group are a mix of students that come from predominantly Spanish homes and predominantly English homes,” said Samantha Edwards, a third-grade bilingual teacher at P.S. 33 in Buffalo.

This is one of a handful of bilingual classes in New York state, meaning alternating full days of instruction in English and Spanish.

“It is not only academic Spanish, but then they're also participating in that social language, which is something that really is only acquired by being around native speakers,” she added.

Parents can opt-in to these schools from pre-K through grade six. Most of the kids in the third-grade class come from Spanish-speaking households.

“I know more Spanish because I'm Puerto Rican and I [was] born in Puerto Rico," said third-grader Jorialis Sophia Villalobos. "When I got here, I was like 5.”

Villalobos understands why knowing both languages is important.

“If I didn't know Spanish, like, my mom talks Spanish, I wouldn't understand her, what she's saying,” she said.

It’s a skill that opens doors.

“I can use Spanish words in any job, if they talk Spanish,” said third-grader Dylan Rivera.

They can find use for these skills in the professional world and the personal.

“In Buffalo, we have a very large Spanish-speaking population in different pockets of the city," said Edwards. "In order to be able to connect with our community, it is really powerful for students to have that dual language ability.”

That's an experience Edwards knows firsthand when she translated for kids at a camp back in high school.

“Just to see their faces when they had someone that understood them and that spoke their language was a really powerful moment for me,” she said.

These immersive classes don’t come without struggles.

“How was it when you first started out to kind of switch back and forth between Spanish?” asked Spectrum News 1 Buffalo.

“It was hard because I was born here, but I don't know how I got to talk Spanish. It was hard to go to English because Spanish was like my thing,” said Surielys Andino, another third-grader.

However, it gets easier.

“It takes time to acclimate, as with any major transition in life, but the children are resilient and they adjust and they grow and [...] have those light bulb moments where the language starts to make sense to them,” said Edwards.

She sees that growth and looks forward to watching it continue.

“I learned Spanish in second grade," said third-grader Justin Rivera.

"And now how much do you know?" asked Spectrum News 1 Buffalo.

"A lot of Spanish a lot of math and a lot of English,” Rivera responded.