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€