Thread: Lexington 1 to turn off English in some classes

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/12981662.htm

Posted on Mon, Oct. 24, 2005

GOING GLOBAL WITH LANGUAGES


Lexington 1 to turn off English in some classes

By BILL ROBINSON

Staff Writer


Starting in August, a small group of kindergartners at three Lexington 1 elementary schools will receive daily instruction in science and math solely in a foreign language. And that could continue throughout their time in public schools.

It’s called “partial immersion,� a teaching technique built around the theory that young children exposed to bilingual instruction are more likely to be fluent in two languages as they mature.

“This is a way to get these kids ready to function in a global society,� said principal Cheryl Fralick of Midway Elementary, where registration has filled one of two classes that will emphasize partial immersion.

About 50 children have registered for 138 spaces reserved at Midway, Red Bank and a new elementary school under construction on Rawl Road, according to Joyce Carter, Lexington 1’s elementary education director.

The trio of schools will join a magnet school in Greenville as the only S.C. schools offering partial immersion language instruction to elementary students. The Center for Applied Linguistics, which tracks foreign language instruction from its Washington headquarters, says partial immersion instruction takes place in 31 states.

Like its neighboring districts in the Midlands, Lexington 1 provides foreign language instruction to elementary students on a limited basis, typically once or twice a week for 25 to 50 minutes.

The new, more intensive approach to teaching foreign language has potential long-term implications for students and the taxpayers who underwrite their education.

The school board’s willingness to embrace the strategy could commit future trustees to supporting the program.

“The more we can link foreign language instruction to the regular curriculum, the more we believe we can provide the kind of well-rounded education our parents expect,� Carter said. “We want it to be perceived as part of the whole education process.�

Lexington 1’s personnel office also will have to step up its recruiting of qualified bilingual teachers â€â€

How does this work? Do the parents have a choice??

“Enrolling your child in immersion is taking a great leap of faith,� Robb said. “It is hard enough to hand over your kindergartner for the first time, but add in the fact that your child’s teacher will speak no English and it can be terrifying. But it is a leap that is well worth taking.�

Why would a person want to do this to their child? Makes no sense to me.

If the child comes from an English speaking household, it seems to me an awful lot of time would have to be devoted to the new language.

I think it is a great idea! We should have been doing this a long time ago. I would have loved to learn French! As we grow into adulthood we do not learn as easy or as fast as when we were children. A lot of countries require their students to learn a second language. Most of the time it is English.
I don't believe these classes are mandatory.

I'm sure the open border lobby loves this idea too!

Soon illegal alien children with no grasp of the English language will be able to enroll in PUBLIC schools and have everything taught to them in Spanish. La Raza wants us to assimilate to them. :P

Meanwhile the American taxpayers footing the bill for the illegals education have to enroll their children in expensive private schools in order to get a decent education.

This isn't about Mexican kids learning English! It is about English speaking kids learn another language other than their own. Now if its other than that I must have read the column wrong.

I don't find a problem with this AS LONG AS MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE is offered AND if it's not mandatory. We, who are so against illegal immigration, tend to bristle any time we feel that Spanish is being CRAMMED DOWN OUR THROATS so sometimes we react negatively when we hear something like this. If we put aside our objection to the hispanic community refusing to assimilate into our society, we can objectively see the benefit of our children learning MANY languages. Just don't forget that AMERICA is an ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY. ENGLISH is our mother tongue.

Who says you get to choose the language that you speak? From what I read it is only SPANISH. This is an awful idea and is furthering the desensitization of our Nation. I am willing to put a buck up that this will be the only language the push onto children. This is what Foreign Language classes are for. If one wants their child to learn another language they can take it upon their selves. This is just a façade to use our tax dollars to teach illegals in our public school system with out making teachers learn Spanish. PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

a small group of kindergartners at three Lexington 1 elementary schools will receive daily instruction in science and math solely in a foreign language. And that could continue throughout their time in public schools.

I'm all for children learning a foreign language in public schools but I do not like the idea of children being taught math and science in Spanish or any other language. When a child is in science class they should be concentrating on subject, when they are in their foreign language class they should be concentrating on that subject.

Bilingual education does not assimilate the children of illegal aliens. It holds them back and it holds back all the others that are in the class with them.

Originally Posted by JEWLI123

This isn't about Mexican kids learning English! It is about English speaking kids learn another language other than their own. Now if its other than that I must have read the column wrong.

I don't know what part of the country you live in but in the southwest we have schools that are built from the ground up to accommodate anchor babies and children of illegal aliens. They graduate from high school without being able to read and write in English. It's pathetic.

You have to read between the lines of this propaganda piece JEWL. This type of school program will soon make English optional. If the illegal children can't pass the test in English they'll get to take it in Spanish. They've been trying to do this in California for some time now.

[quote]When Lexington 1 redraws attendance lines in early 2006 to fill the new school, Brundage still wants her son to participate in the foreign language instruction â€â€

In CA, we have prop. 227. It demands that core subjects be taught in English. Period!
If it wasn't for Arnold, the democrats controling the legistature would have done away with prop. 227 in place of new prop. to make it mandatory to speak spanish.
Illegals would have drivers licences and would be able to take advantage of the motor votor laws. The CA DMV are nothing but pimps for votor registration!
Recently CA courts made it to where illegal immigrant workers to get workers comp. Some people don't like this, but I thing that it might be good because it may discourage employers who don't want to pay for it.