Saline elementary students to receive foreign language instruction next fall
Kindergarten through third-grade students at Saline Area Schools will be taught world languages starting in fall 2013, according to an article in the Saline Reporter.
Saline's Heritage Elementary School will offer world language instruction to students starting next fall.
From Saline Area Schools
Currently, the district does not offer foreign language classes until seventh and eighth grade. The district intends to bridge that gap by fall 2016, the Saline Reporter said.
According to the article the Foundation for Saline Area Schools is funding the foreign language program expansion through a grant, and the expansion will result in the district hiring some additional language instructors.
Read the complete Saline Reporter article here.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Jeremy Reed
Wed, Dec 5, 2012 : 3:14 p.m.
This is great news. Kudos to Saline for being forward thinking. This is a nice start, although I prefer what Lincoln Schools did with their Elementary School Spanish Immersion program. That program is really cool. Students learn the State of Michigan curriculum for their grade level, only in Spanish. In this program, children will be bilingual by the fifth grade. Check it out at: www.lincolnspanishimmersion.com. I love to see innovation like this in our schools. Congratulations Saline.
Jaime Magiera
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 5:50 p.m.
Research shows that learning other languages increases overall thinking skills and even physical brain activity. Also, learning languages provides an understanding of the cultures behind those languages. So, this is a win-win situation. Great news.
BHarding
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 5:45 p.m.
Kindergarten through 3rd grade is the very best time to learn a second language! (aside from learning to speak at home in two languages) Little kids don't have the inhibitions that older kids have, and it's more fun for them. Not to mention that it improves brain function generally, increases word comprehension and appreciation. Good for Saline!
dsponini
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 2:38 p.m.
About time...I wish I had this when I was in elementary school!
Silly Sally
Mon, Dec 3, 2012 : 11:57 p.m.
If they do not speak English, then they are not Americans, but foreigners. Americans speak English. "World languages"? What is wrong with the time-honored term, "foreign languages", meaning not from here?
Mike
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 8:36 p.m.
CLX - chill out; nobody said it was unpatriotic to learn a foreign language. It will become essential in this country as english and spanish clash as the dominant language. We no longer require immigrants learn the language, so guess what they don't. You need to get out to other parts of the USA besides Ann Arbor.............Not all of us will work in foreign countries but we all need to learn to read, write, and do math which the schools are failing miserably at.
CLX
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 2 a.m.
Only in the United States is learning a second language considered unpatriotic and not worthwhile. It's a big world out there, and it is full of languages, hence world languages. English is a "foreign" language to more people than not, so naming all language except ours as "foreign" suggests that we Americans are the center of the world and everyone else is a mere foreigner. Can't we get beyond that now? It's a global economy - let's accept that reality and work within it.
Dog Guy
Mon, Dec 3, 2012 : 11:34 p.m.
The adjective for speaking three languages is "trilingual", two languages is "bilingual", one language is "American".
Mike
Mon, Dec 3, 2012 : 10:22 p.m.
We might as well have our kids learn how to speak to other americans who don't speak english. Makes perfect sense to me.................
Mike
Tue, Dec 4, 2012 : 8:32 p.m.
Angry - You must not get outside of Ann Arbor very much. There are many parts of the country where speaking spanish or arabic is almost essential if you want to communicate and fit it. It has nothing to do with speaking to other parts of the world...................
Angry Moderate
Mon, Dec 3, 2012 : 11:03 p.m.
God forbid our students be able to communicate with other people in a global economy where both business and foreign policy are done in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, etc.