School district looks at foreign language
Should the Whitefish elementary school
curriculum have a focus on foreign language?
It’s an idea school board trustee Dave
Fern wants the district to look into.
Fern suggested at the Jan. 10 board
meeting that the district consider the possibility of adopting a
foreign language immersion program that would provide more
instruction than a few lessons a week.
“If you want to obtain a second or
third language before they leave the district, there needs to be
some time put into it,” he said.
There are benefits to learning a second
language beyond cognitive learning, Fern said, and fluency in a
foreign language could be useful to students once they leave the
classroom.
“As we move into the 21st century
learning this is something that has come to the top,” he said.
Trustee Charlie Abell said he agreed
with the idea.
“We need to see what language is
important and take a broad look at what we need to do,” Abell
said.
The board directed superintendent Kate
Orozco to look into the possibility of creating an immersion
foreign language program by the fall of 2013.
Fern acknowledged the budgetary
challenges of such a curriculum change.
“I’ve wrestled with the finances of
this,” he said “This has to be revenue neutral. It would be a
mistake to use grants for this — we want sustainability.”
Fern suggested hiring teachers that are
not only certified to teach at the elementary level, but who are
also bilingual as a way to create a foreign language program.
A few trustees noted that adding
foreign language to the curriculum might also set Whitefish apart
from other schools and gain interest in the district from
parents.
“Whitefish should be the best,” Abell
said. “We should be No. 1 in the state.”