Accent on language

The teaching of foreign languages at the elementary school level is alive and well — and even thriving — in the Greater Washington area.

In Fairfax County, students have been learning Japanese in a voluntary immersion program begun in 1989. The county also offers Spanish, French and German at the elementary level. Immersion characteristically prescribes that academic lessons are conducted entirely in another language.

“It is an all-optional program starting in grade one that works out to two and one-half hours a day, using language as a vehicle to teach content,” says Marty Abbott, director of the office of high school instruction and former foreign-language coordinator for the county. “Parents want children to learn another language and see it as an important element in this century.”

At Floris Elementary School in Herndon one morning last week, children in one class were speaking and listening in Japanese while absorbed in a science experiment; another class was studying the vocabulary for directional signs. Both rooms were filled with Japanese cultural and linguistic symbols.

Ideally, educators say, language is taught in the course of learning other subject matter — so that vocabulary and grammar are absorbed not for their own sake but as a way of acquiring information a student cares about. Building that way on young students’ natural sense of curiosity makes it easier for them to retain a second or even a third language.

“We urge parents not to ask children to perform in a foreign language at home, just to show off,” cautions Mrs. Abbott, the past president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, a nonprofit educators association. “One reason is because children would find it unnatural to speak in Japanese if they know their parents don’t. One mother told me, ’I never can get the child to speak Japanese to me, but she does try it on the dog.’”

Studies over the years have shown that the skills a child acquires in the course of mastering one or two languages that are not his or her native tongue transfer into other areas, says Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign-language education at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Northwest. The nonprofit organization devotes itself to encouraging language and literary education in the United States.

Carole Al-Kahouaji, director of education at the District’s private Rock Creek International School, says, “We used to think learning a second language handicapped or sublimated the first one.” The school helped pioneer immersion classes 15 years ago, starting in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.

“We now know that isn’t the case,” she says. “We know language learning can be additive. It’s really how you do it and how you present it. … A lot of physiological research is being done on how languages are processed. We know a second language is processed in another part of the brain.”

Rock Creek offers French, Spanish and Arabic in addition to English and, occasionally, Hebrew. The school plans next to add Mandarin Chinese. “The most compelling reason is the global marketplace in today’s world, on top of the obvious cultural and humanitarian reasons,” Mrs. Al-Kahouaji says.

A national survey done by the Center for Applied Linguistics over a 10-year period showed a 10 percent increase — to 32 percent of all elementary schools — in foreign-language instruction, when the term is broadly defined.

“If children start learning a foreign language before puberty, they will have a much better pronunciation. If you wait, it becomes more difficult,” Ms. Rhodes says. “Compare learning a language with math that begins in kindergarten with blocks. We could wait until sixth grade for math, but it is better to start early and build. By fourth grade, we can teach social studies in another language.”

The federal education act known as No Child Left Behind, which requires a standard proficiency in math and reading, puts pressure on educators concerned about how much can be squeezed into a school day. Again, though, Ms. Rhodes points to research showing that language training enhances English skills across the board.

“Children in immersion courses actually do as well or better,” she adds. The problem, she says, is that American universities do not train enough elementary teachers in any field, much less those with abilities to read, speak, write and listen in another language.

Marleny Perdomo, foreign-language specialist for Arlington County, says, “There are connections between learning language and mathematical reasoning because you are, in effect, being forced to solve problems.”

Mrs. Perdomo describes what she says is “a two-way Spanish immersion” program for 900 of a total 9,672 elementary students, many of whom come to school knowing only Spanish.

“In immersion, they have opportunity to develop high-ability skills in their own language, but they also learn English,” she says.

Do the schools feel pressure to provide the program because of an influx of illegal immigrants? No, says Mrs. Perdomo, who adds that schools have never kept records of a child’s immigration status because it’s not their job to do so. Also, she points out that not all Hispanic children are in the program and that non-Hispanics are also participating.

Students who speak Spanish as a first language profit, as well, by having their vocabulary reinforced, says Ann Aversano, foreign-language supervisor for Loudoun County Schools, which are in the third year of sponsoring Spanish in 27 elementary schools. The program eventually will extend to all 42 elementary schools.

Eight District public schools have dual-language programs, where English and Spanish are taught simultaneously, starting in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. The programs eventually will expand to include every lower school grade.

“Dual language means you have 50 percent of the students who are native speakers of the language. They can be peer models for the other 50,” says Lisa Tabaku, head of the Office of Bilingual Education for D.C. Public Schools. The eight schools include Oyster Elementary at 300 Bryant St. NW, which has made learning both Spanish and English compulsory for 30 years.

Finding properly credentialed teachers remains a challenge in public schools with strict licensing rules. In several instances, foreign governments have helped with recruitment. The Embassy of Spain has provided teaching assistants for Arlington schools and found paraprofessionals to work alongside teachers of Spanish in the District. Teachers of Spanish in D.C. schools who have three-year education degrees from their own country can get local credentials by spending an extra year at the University of the District of Columbia.