Back to School: Language lessons
August 23, 2011
By Christopher Huber
NEW 4:10 p.m., Aug. 23
School districts strive to keep foreign language courses available amid shrinking budgets
On almost an annual basis, Tammy Haldeman has had to teach two levels of Japanese language students during the same class period at Skyline High School.
Last school year, she had to pick between teaching a split class of 44 students or make two separate periods out of it. Ultimately she had to keep the group together and teach two levels of Japanese, she said, because one class would not be large enough to warrant creating another class period.
She is able to make do, and it ends up working out alright, she said, but the students in those classes lose out on the closer attention they might otherwise receive in a typical language class with one level.
“You’re more like a facilitator of their learning with that,” Haldeman said.“You have to have highly motivated kids in those classes.”
Haldeman’s situation isn’t unique. Teachers and school administrators have to use the resources available. But due to non-existent class-size-reduction funding and teacher shortages in some languages, foreign language programs around the Issaquah and Lake Washington school districts are facing challenges similar to those in the arts and other elective programs.
Even so, district officials said they know the benefits to studying a foreign language early and have worked to provide options for students as early as eighth grade.
In addition to in-house offerings at Pine Lake and Beaver Lake middle schools and Inglewood Junior High School, some elementary school students in both districts have options through PTA-sponsored after-school language programs, too.
“You are very limited in what you can pack in during that six-hour day. It forces you to prioritize,” said Ron Thiele, Issaquah School District’s associate superintendent. “Even if you had the student interest; even if you could get the teachers, you still have to confront that issue, of ‘what am I willing to stop offering.’ Those become really dicey conversations.”
Starting in middle school
Both school districts offer accredited foreign language classes starting in eighth grade. Inglewood students can take Spanish or French starting in eighth grade. Students at every Issaquah School District middle school can take Spanish, but only those at Issaquah Middle School and Maywood Middle School have an option for French, according to Sara Niegowski, the district’s communications director.
Stella Scholla, a Lake Washington magnet school, offers Latin coursework for seventh- and eighth-graders. And in an effort to streamline graduation requirements for college entry standards, the Lake Washington School Board, at its June 20 meeting, voted to require all students to take two years of one foreign language.
It’s the sixth district in the state to require two years and the seventh overall to institute a foreign language requirement (one district requires one year).
“We wanted to align our high school graduation requirements to ensure our students were prepared and eligible to enter college,” said Traci Pierce, Lake Washington’s deputy superintendent of instructional services.
In Sammamish schools, the new requirement will first apply to incoming Eastlake ninth-graders in fall of 2012, according to Kathryn Reith, the district’s communications director.
Eastside Catholic Middle School offers Spanish starting in seventh grade. Once in high school, students there can take French or Spanish levels one through four, according to the school’s curriculum webpage.
Options in high school
All students at Eastlake and Skyline have the option to take Spanish and French. Skyline also offers Japanese, and a group of students is working to get Mandarin Chinese added to the course offerings list.
Pierce noted the Lake Washington’s desire to offer as many choices as possible for students. It becomes a matter of staffing the position, though.
“There is generalized interest in Mandrin,” she said.
The idea of offering foreign language instruction at the elementary level has become a difficult area to address, Thiele said.
Total immersion
While schools in Burlington and Seattle, as well as many others across the nation, have waded into the waters of offering language immersion programs starting in the first grade, he said Issaquah considers it one of those great ideas that needs more student and parent interest combined with an abundance of bilingual, certified Washington teachers who also know how to teach all subject areas well. One problem, among others, is not enough native Spanish (or another foreign language) speakers at any one school.
“We looked into Spanish immersion a few years back,” Thiele said. “The problem I had was, I understand the immersion, but you need about half the kids in the class (to) be Spanish speaking and half would be English speaking.”
In order for an elementary school to offer a sustainable language immersion program, it has to fill a pipeline of teachers in each grade level.
“I think there’s a reason not a lot of (school districts) do it. It’s harder than anyone thinks. For us, we’re still a relatively homogenous population,” he said. “It’s not that we’re not interested in doing that. If it’s something that we can make happen, let’s do it.”
As principal of Issaquah Middle School in 2002, Thiele, who has a background in Mandrin studies, actually did implement a Japanese language program for one period per day. Within two years, they dropped the program due to lack of student interest.
“I could never get more than 17 kids per class,” Thiele said. “I just couldn’t keep the numbers. There has to be a certain amount of student interest. They’re not forced to take Japanese class.”
Spanish and French are simply more popular still, despite efforts, for example, by Skyline students to get Chinese on the course offerings list. And while other elective subjects like the arts and physical education diminish with the budgets, language classes still remain fairly robust at the high school level, he said.
That has a lot to do with students seeking to fulfill college entrance requirements — neither the district nor the state requires students to complete foreign language coursework.
“It wouldn’t surprise me that it is (growing),” Thiele said. “As I recall over 90 percent (of students) meet the two-years of language requirement upon graduating.”
While school districts have to strike a balance between maintaining a variety of elective course offerings for middle and high schoolers, foreign language teachers have the freedom to organize language immersion trips or activities to help their students deepen their understanding and experience in the culture and language.
These are offered completely independent from the school and tend to happen whenever teachers can get enough students and parents committed to travel, teachers from Skyline and Issaquah said.
Haldeman estimated that roughly one group of Skyline students takes a trip or attends an immersion activity each year, whether that’s during winter break, spring break or over the summer.
“Usually I notice that kids’ interest peaks,” Haldeman said. “It really solidifies their interest.”
Haldeman said she has taken her students to Japan before, but they often opt to attend the two-day full-immersion camp in Seattle. They learn the ins and outs of the culture and compete in speaking exercises.
“They get really excited about doing that,” she said.
Whether students take a trip or not, some teachers in the district supplement the traditional curriculum — standard verb conjugations and memorizing grammar rules — with methods such as Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). It promotes more creativity and conversation among classmates and focuses less on the teacher simply lecturing.
Haldeman said it is proven effective but, due to ever-increasing workload and requirements, it’s difficult to consistently incorporate into everyday instruction. She, like many, chooses to teach only in Japanese in her classes from second-year and up.
“My advanced classes are not allowed to speak in English at all,” Haldeman said.
While schools across the country have proven that learning a second language earlier and through new methods leads to higher test results, among other things, a variety of factors continue to limit Issaquah and other districts in what they can offer students. In the end it’s all a big balancing act, Thiele said.
“There’s educational value with learning a foreign language,” Thiele said. “But there’s also educational value in learning science or art.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.SammamishReview.com.
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3 Responses to “Back to School: Language lessons”
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Bringing the joy of communication to foreign language classrooms is the hallmark of the teaching technique that Tammy Haldeman and other Issaquah teachers, like Rebecca Nick, are using more and more these days. It’s GREAT to see TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) being mentioned in this story as nothing else, in my experience, brings greater fluency to students in as short a time.
A few years ago I was invited to do a demonstration Chinese lesson using TPRS for a group of Issaquah teachers. It’s gratifying to hear that Ms. Haldeman has continued to explore this technique, but I wish more teachers would give it a try. As a foreign language teacher with 18 years experience, I can honestly say it’s the most exciting thing to happen to Foreign Language education in 20+ years! With so many programs facing challenges because of budget cuts, it would be wonderful to see the joy of learning a language ignite a passion in students who THINK they are taking the class just to qualify for a typical 4-year university. TPRS is fun, intense, and leads to real fluency.
At The Learning Curve, we offer French and Spanish to students in a 1-on-1 or small group learning experience. Students in middle school can take French 1 with us in 8th grade (whether it’s offered at their school or not) in order to fully prepare for French 2 at the high school. The EARLIER you start with a foreign language, the better, so we’ve worked with kids (using the high school curriculum) as young as 4th grade. Students can then take Spanish 3, 4, or AP/IB levels when they get to 9th grade.
There are a lot of options out there for both struggling and gifted students in all subject areas, but learning a foreign language opens the world up to a student in a way no other subject can.
Language is definitely a barrier for progression and a means of success. I am thankful for the middle-school section because my company focuses on providing interactive materials, instructional support and integrated assessment designed to current common, state, local, subject, and grade-level priorities integrating existing technology, supporting classroom instruction, building teacher capacity and promoting critical thinking.