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Ryan Peterson is only in ninth grade, but he’s already studied French, Spanish and Mandarin in school, and this year he’s taking Arabic for the first time. Ryan is a student at Eldorado Elementary School in Orange, a small private school with about 200 students in preschool through the 12th grade. Ryan’s mother, Cathie Peterson, an administrative assistant at the school, is glad her son is being exposed to foreign languages at an early age. “I just think it makes students so much more well-rounded. It helps them to look at things differently than in their normal world view,” Peterson says. Several years of foreign language classes, beginning in preschool or kindergarten, are a standard part of the curriculum at most private schools in Orange County and the Inland Empire. Nearly all private schools offer an earlier and more in-depth program for foreign language study than public schools, which generally introduce foreign language classes beginning in middle or high school, and often as an elective. In this day and age, with a global economy firmly in place, that’s not enough. And U.S. universities, which define the well-rounded student, also are demanding more, such as the truly bilingual student. Advantage, private schools Enhanced and early foreign language instruction is indeed a draw for private schools. This is especially true for families with college-bound students seeking admittance to competitive universities that require top grades in high school foreign language classes. To be eligible for admittance to California’s four-year colleges in the UC and CSU systems, for example, students must take at least two years of high school classes in the same foreign language. All students at Eldorado are required to study a language other than English. While older students have some foreign language choices, every student initially takes Spanish, beginning with the preschoolers. “They meet twice a week and it’s mostly singing and learning colors,” Peterson says. After preschool, Spanish classes twice a week, increasing to four times a week, are mandatory each year for all students. Classes in a second foreign language are added for one year, and beginning in the fifth or sixth grade, students may choose which language to study. This year the choices at Eldorado are Spanish, French or Japanese. At the high school level, Latin and Arabic are offered as well. At the Hillcrest Academy in Temecula, daily French classes have been part of the curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade since the school was founded in 1977. Students may now switch to Spanish in the fourth grade, and about half do, but all of the 206 students must take French or Spanish, reports Maureen Manion, Hillcrest’s head of school. “It’s very important to introduce a foreign language at an early age and it’s important to hear the sounds every day,” says Manion, who cited research that shows the part of the brain responsible for language acquisition generally “shuts down” by the age 12. Thus, it’s harder to master a second language as we age. Spanish instruction is emphasized at the Hillsborough School in Anaheim Hills, where all 220 students take Spanish from preschool through the eighth grade. Students initially take Spanish twice weekly. Classes increase in frequency to three times a week in fifth grade, and daily in sixth and seventh grades. Parents want their children learn to Spanish, says Hillsborough Principal Linda Adamson. “There’s so much more of a need, it’s so practical.” Why it’s important A wide body of research shows that foreign language study has numerous benefits for all students. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, based in Virginia, says learning a second language at an early age enhances intellectual growth and fosters more flexibility in thinking. It stimulates greater sensitivity to language; gives children the ability to communicate with a diversity of people; opens the door to other cultures; helps a child understand and appreciate people from other countries; and provides a competitive edge in career opportunities. In the European Union, 45% of people speak at least one second language; educators in the United States say we must keep up. Many U.S. universities, such as UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton, have recently added formerly uncommon languages such as Arabic, Korean and Chinese to their class rosters, largely because of a demand. China, for example, is the world’s fastest-growing economy. Multi-cultural education is a big part of the reason all students at the Waldorf School in Costa Mesa take Japanese and Spanish classes, each twice a week, from first through eighth grades. “My son is a student here, and years ago at an orientation, the Spanish teacher said, ‘The reason we teach language in the Waldorf schools is to teach tolerance,’” says Development and Outreach Coordinator, Catherine Sharbaugh. That’s part of the private school rationale. |
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