Amy Jeter

NORFOLK - The school division would offer the most widespread elementary school foreign language program in South Hampton Roads under a proposal recently presented to the School Board.

The plan would provide between two and five days a week of instruction for students in all of the city's 35 elementary schools and would cost up to $11 million in the first year.

School officials said they plan to use the proposal to begin discussions about bolstering Norfolk's foreign language offerings. Expansion of the elementary program is not included in next school year's budget, which goes into effect July 1.

"It's the right goal, and we've got a lot of work to do to realize the goal," School Board Chairman Barry Bishop said. "We want our kids - bottom line - to be globally competitive."

In recent years, President Bush and other national leaders have called for enhancing foreign-

language education in U.S. schools, They say familiarity with other languages and cultures will help the country's economic competitiveness and national security.

The Virginia Board of Education encourages foreign language instruction for elementary school students but does not require it.

Still, some Virginia school divisions have been building extensive elementary school foreign language programs. In Loudoun County, all elementary students take Spanish and some have begun studying Chinese.

Currently, just one Norfolk elementary school, Dreamkeepers Academy, provides a Spanish program. In Virginia Beach, one school, Christopher Farms Elementary, features an immersion model, where the regular curriculum is taught in Spanish for part of the day.

Elementary foreign language lessons in Chesapeake are limited to a summer program and a course for gifted students, though administrators are exploring other options. There are no foreign language classes for elementary school students in Suffolk.

The Portsmouth school division had planned to start an elementary Spanish program next year, but there wasn't money for it, said Sharon Harris, a school spokeswoman.

Norfolk's proposal to expand its foreign language instruction came from a committee of teachers, administrators, parents and community members who met over two years.

The most expensive option would cost about $11 million in the first year. It includes about $1.87 million for 34 new elementary foreign language teacher salaries, $170,000 for training and curriculum, and $9 million to lengthen the elementary school week. In that option, the school week would grow by up to five hours to accommodate 45 minutes of foreign language study every day. Other less expensive options don't require a change to school hours.

"The program, as designed, would allow the opportunity for every student in the district to participate," said Lisa A. Harris, the school division's senior coordinator of foreign languages.

In addition to augmenting elementary instruction, Norfolk's proposal calls for changes to the division's middle and high school programs. The recommendations, which would cost about $550,000 annually, include hiring 13 new foreign language teachers, expanding Latin offerings and introducing Chinese and Arabic.

Administrators plan to make some of those adjustments next fall.

Latin will be taught at all middle schools, with the addition of four teachers. At least one high school will offer Arabic through a partnership with Norfolk State University, and if the school division receives a grant, Chinese instruction would be available in at least one middle school.

Norfolk will stop offering high school-level Italian, however, because its Italian teacher is leaving. The division may also lose one of three Japanese teachers due to the end of a grant.

School Board member Jim Driggers said he wants to know more about the benefits of foreign language learning before he commits to paying for an enhanced program.

However, funding for some foreign language expansion might be available through partnerships or grants, Barry Bishop, the School Board chairman, said.

Amy Bishop, a mother of two W.H. Taylor Elementary students, said she would welcome additional foreign language classes because they would help her sons in the future. She is not related to Barry Bishop. "At that young age," she said, "it's the easiest to learn."

Printed with permission from The Virginia Pilot on June 9, 2008