I agree that the way in which the foreign language is taught is very important. However, some of the After School Spanish programs are great for those districts that can't afford it in the everyday curriculum. They are fun, lively, and affordable. Also, they are convenient, because they are onsite at the schools. A very popular one is Futura Language Professionals.
Our public schools do not have foreign lang. in elementry or middle schools. That is one of the big reasons we go to private school.
My sisters school district does have a spanish immersion program. It's hard to get into, one class per grade level for the whole district. It's done by lottery with younger siblings given priority when older siblings are already in the program. My neices are in it.
And let me tell you. It is done with the utmost care. Only native speakers with education degrees may teach. The only homework that goes home is English (reading 30 minutes and writing). Kind. is 100% spanish at school, 1st is 90%, 2 is 80%, 3 is 70%, 4 is 60%, 5 is 50% and then off to middle school. The kids in the immersion program are coming out of it much more highly educated (test better & are actually learning more) than the kids going through the normal program.
Foreign language in elementary and middle schools is wonderful, but only if it's done right. Until this school year our elementary school kids(grades K - 5) had Spanish one day in a six day rotation. In middle school (grades 6 - 8) they have either Spanish, German or French twice in a five day rotation. Students stay with the same language for all three years.
We had a very uninspiring Spanish teacher for the elementary kids who taught pretty much the same lesson plan to every single grade. My son learned nothing after 5 years (they started it in Kdg. after he was past it) except for his colors, the days of the week, numbers and how to say "my name is". It was a complete waste of time. Fortunately, in this budget cutting era after the Spanish teacher left our school (moved out of area) and the other two ele. Spanish teachers retired and changed positions in the other two elementaries, Spanish was droppedin that form from our elementary schools. I remember hearing that language is best taught to the young but there's got to be a better method then what we used.
We do have an immersion Spanish program in one of the elementary schools that is very popular and completely voluntary. The only negative I have heard is that the kids are behind their peers when they start Middle School because all of their classes are taught in Spanish in elementary and they don't really learn english grammer correctly.
Now in middle school it's taught much better but still after 3 years of a language kids go into just the second year of their language in High School. Anyone else have this strange way of ms language education? Seems to me it would be more efficient to just have it 5 days a week in 8th grade.
I wanted to say thank you to all of the fantastic PTO families out there who recognize the importance of foreign language for elementary school students. We are making a difference for 1,000 children now because of you!
