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Post by WeNeed3 on Sept 18, 2008 17:17:44 GMT -5
I heard today that the district has been examining foreign language options and possibly taking things to the ES level. Apparently this was mentioned at the IPPC meeting. I was not there but this is what I was told they spoke about.
Foreign Language in ES - some camps might be available next summer including a 90 hour Chinese camp offered over three weeks for free for 4th & 5th graders and maybe MS.
May offer Spanish as well.
As far as Foreign language in the ES's during the year, they have discussed Spanish or Chinese. They can't do everything and nothing has been decided yet.
IMO I hope they continue to explore options. I know my daughter attended an after school Spanish class one year at her ES when she was younger.
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Arwen
Master Member
Posts: 933
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Post by Arwen on Sept 18, 2008 19:20:12 GMT -5
This is so exciting to me, and, I think, something the entire community would be supportive of. So many studies have shown that language training at a young age is much easier and very beneficial for the child's brain. I have been considering sending my kids to a Spanish program for a few hours a week, but it is hard to fit in amongst the sports, scouts and religious ed activities we already have going for 3 kids. I'm thinking that it will be a top priority for next summer. Bringing it to the elementary curriculum would truly be fabulous, and something a top notch district should pursue.
My personal preference would be for Spanish over Chinese. I wonder if it would be harder to get enough certified teachers for all the schools in one language over the other. If they just did one hour per week per classroom for all grade levels, they'd still need a dedicated teacher for each building. If they did more classtime, they'd need even more.
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Post by asmodeus on Sept 18, 2008 23:01:15 GMT -5
A few thoughts...
I agree that learning a second language as a young child is fundamentally easier and better than as an adolescent or adult. Your brain actually becomes hardwired for language when you are young, whereas if you learn another language later in life, the non-native language becomes more of a translation.
Having said that, I question the value of learning a second or third language other than for academic curiosity and enrichment. There is dubious value in knowing more than one language, other than in a few specialized professions. I believe the time would be more productively spent mastering English.
And from a world perspective, doesn't it seem obvious that we are (or should be) moving toward a more unified whole? That eventually countries and cultures will become more integrated? English is already the worldwide language of business, the Internet, aviation, etc. and is becoming more so every day. It will no doubt be the world's dominant language if it isn't already. Yes, more people may speak Chinese, but obviously the concentration is in one country.
If you couldn't tell, I am against bilingual education, and I believe in English as our "official" language in the sense that all official government business should be conducted in English. I am not against people speaking other languages, or someone wanting to learn another language for reasons such as vocabulary building (which is the only thing those years of Latin I took were good for). But language is the glue that holds us together and the sooner everyone can communicate with a common language, the better.
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Post by WeNeed3 on Dec 2, 2008 21:21:12 GMT -5
I just attended the informational meeting for middle school tonight. The foreign language has changed a bit.
They are looking at offering Spanish, French, German and Chinese at the middle school level. Whether one or all of these are offered depends upon student interest. But one thing is different. If you want to take foreign language, you have to commit to two years. Those two years will be equivalent to one year of HS language. Although you won't get HS credit for that, you will then be able to start out in Spanish II in HS.
They will have an introductory class in 6th grade where you can sample all of the languages as well which is a quarter-only class.
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Post by southsidesignmaker on Dec 2, 2008 22:35:48 GMT -5
Starting a second language as early as possible is a great idea. This can do nothing but help our students in the long run. The perspective alone can do nothing but help make good citizens over the long haul. Many in the states feel a single language is a positive, I respectfully disagree. A second language is like learning to read music, opening up new ideas to those that have captured the knowledge.
Learning a second language can only help when viewing the world and "how one fits" in that world.
Long term it would be great if secondary languages were offered at the primary level.
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Post by momto4 on Dec 3, 2008 8:05:34 GMT -5
Starting a second language as early as possible is a great idea. This can do nothing but help our students in the long run. The perspective alone can do nothing but help make good citizens over the long haul. Many in the states feel a single language is a positive, I respectfully disagree. A second language is like learning to read music, opening up new ideas to those that have captured the knowledge. Learning a second language can only help when viewing the world and "how one fits" in that world. Long term it would be great if secondary languages were offered at the primary level. I agree that learning a second language is worthwhile and I look forward to hearing more about what will be offered for ES kids in the district. However, I can't imagine using a full two years of MS electives to be one year ahead in HS language. That would really limit the student as to what other electives they could explore in MS and I am sure that none of my kids would have chosen that option. Historically, kids in music have been already very limited in what else they can take in addition to music, core classes, gym, lunch and required classes in MS.
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Post by WeNeed3 on Dec 3, 2008 10:45:24 GMT -5
Starting a second language as early as possible is a great idea. This can do nothing but help our students in the long run. The perspective alone can do nothing but help make good citizens over the long haul. Many in the states feel a single language is a positive, I respectfully disagree. A second language is like learning to read music, opening up new ideas to those that have captured the knowledge. Learning a second language can only help when viewing the world and "how one fits" in that world. Long term it would be great if secondary languages were offered at the primary level. I agree that learning a second language is worthwhile and I look forward to hearing more about what will be offered for ES kids in the district. However, I can't imagine using a full two years of MS electives to be one year ahead in HS language. That would really limit the student as to what other electives they could explore in MS and I am sure that none of my kids would have chosen that option. Historically, kids in music have been already very limited in what else they can take in addition to music, core classes, gym, lunch and required classes in MS. I kind of have mixed emotions about this too mt4. IMO, although the foreign language thing is great when they are young, it's wasting 2 years of time to get one year of HS language where they could be exploring other electives. Maybe if your child might struggle with it, to condense 1 year of high school language into 2 years of MS language might be good. Or if the language is difficult like Chinese, it might be nice to take that in a two year course. The problem, to me, is for the B/O/C kids that want that and the language-I think they miss out on the fun electives. I'm not really versed on college requirements for foreign language. Don't most of them just require 2 years in HS? Seems to me you could still get 4 years in HS if you really wanted to easily without taking the two years in MS to do one year in HS. I guess it depends if you want your electives in MS or HS whether you take the foreign language sooner rather than waiting. I think our principal said at our school, about 1/3 of the kids are taking a language. I wonder if that will increase or decrease next year.
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Post by momto4 on Dec 3, 2008 11:07:11 GMT -5
Colleges will want 2-4 years of foreign language. It is not a problem for most who want 4 years of foreign language to get that in HS. As far as I know, our schools do not offer a 5th year anyway.
I wonder why students in MS cannot get HS credit for completion of a HS course? Two examples come to mind. First, why does the 2 years of foreign language not count as completing one HS course? The other is math. The PA math kids take 2 years of math in MS that the regular track students take in HS. Why do they not get credit for those math classes? They do not even count toward the HS math requirement. Granted, most kids in PA math will not have a problem going through Calc in HS but not all are interested in taking that much math even if they are good at it.
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Post by gatormom on Dec 3, 2008 11:37:39 GMT -5
Colleges will want 2-4 years of foreign language. It is not a problem for most who want 4 years of foreign language to get that in HS. As far as I know, our schools do not offer a 5th year anyway. I wonder why students in MS cannot get HS credit for completion of a HS course? Two examples come to mind. First, why does the 2 years of foreign language not count as completing one HS course? The other is math. The PA math kids take 2 years of math in MS that the regular track students take in HS. Why do they not get credit for those math classes? They do not even count toward the HS math requirement. Granted, most kids in PA math will not have a problem going through Calc in HS but not all are interested in taking that much math even if they are good at it. Even the accelerated math students are doing a year of high school algebra. That is an excellent point. If they are doing high school work in MS, why don't they get high school credit?
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Post by momto4 on Dec 4, 2008 12:36:32 GMT -5
They will have an introductory class in 6th grade where you can sample all of the languages as well which is a quarter-only class. I see from the info online that students can only take the foreign language exploratory if they are not in band, orchestra, or chorus. I wonder what % of students are not involved in music in 6th grade.
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Post by WeNeed3 on Dec 5, 2008 8:15:18 GMT -5
They will have an introductory class in 6th grade where you can sample all of the languages as well which is a quarter-only class. I see from the info online that students can only take the foreign language exploratory if they are not in band, orchestra, or chorus. I wonder what % of students are not involved in music in 6th grade. Our principal did not break it down by grade but said that a little over half of the students (51 or 56%, I can't remember) are involved in the BOC at our middle school. Of that 50+%, 1/3 of those students take foreign language. I would be interested to see if that number goes up or down next year when there is a two year comittment.
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Post by momto4 on Dec 5, 2008 8:50:03 GMT -5
I see from the info online that students can only take the foreign language exploratory if they are not in band, orchestra, or chorus. I wonder what % of students are not involved in music in 6th grade. Our principal did not break it down by grade but said that a little over half of the students (51 or 56%, I can't remember) are involved in the BOC at our middle school. Of that 50+%, 1/3 of those students take foreign language. I would be interested to see if that number goes up or down next year when there is a two year comittment. Thanks for the info. I would expect that since some students drop music after 6th or 7th that well over 50% of 6th graders are in music. My oldest dropped orchestra after 6th simply because of how limited her encore choices would have been in 7th & 8th due to music. Now the choices would be even more limited. I would think the two year commitment would cause many students to choose to wait until 9th for FL but for those who might struggle with learning a language it could be helpful to do it over two years rather than one.
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