Glendale News Press, CA
Nov 15 2008
School may expand its language programs
German course is already at Franklin Elementary. Italian, Spanish
offerings might be next.
By Zain Shauk
Published: Last Updated Friday, November 14, 2008 10:32 PM PST
GLENDALE ‘ Twenty-five kindergartners at Franklin Elementary School
already receive 90% of their instruction in German, and administrators
are hoping to put more students into bilingual environments by adding
programs for Italian and Spanish.
More than 100 parents attended a presentation about bilingual
education Thursday, where administrators hoped to stimulate interest
for the likely expanded language offerings next year.
Although the school plans to add the new languages next year, with the
help of supplemental funding from community groups and foreign
governments, Franklin received a grant Thursday from Italian group
Fondazione Italia to jump-start interest in an after-school Italian
program to begin in January, teacher specialist Ana Jones said.
The addition of immersion classes for Italian and Spanish would
establish Franklin as a pioneer in the dual-language programs at
California public schools, with no other school offering three
languages, said Linda Junge, the Glendale Unified School District’s
public information officer, who said the only other school with three
immersion programs that officials were aware of was in Texas.
`Italian is unheard of,’ said Junge, adding that Italian and German
would make the school’s language options unique, since most similar
programs focus on Spanish.
The possible expansion of programs at Franklin came as both a response
to community interest in the additional languages and as a means to
increase enrollment figures at the school, which, at about 350
students, is the district’s smallest, officials said.
`We want to provide an exceptional educational environment for our
kids,’ Supt. Michael Escalante said, `but it also provides us an
opportunity of keeping some of the kids in the district from leaving,
as well as maybe attracting some kids from outside. And maybe that’ll
help us address the issue of declining enrollment.’
The district’s enrollment, which has dropped by almost 10% since 2003,
was a driving force behind its Foreign Language Academy of Glendale
program, which so far includes Armenian, German, Korean and Spanish
immersion programs for students at the elementary school level,
Escalante said.
Officials have credited this year’s higher-than-expected district
enrollment figures in part to the increased language options, with 358
more students attending classes than was originally anticipated. The
unexpected enrollment jump will bring about $2 million more in
revenue, according to district officials.
Adding more immersion programs, including unique languages, may help
attract more families who want their children in challenging learning
environments, Junge said.
Parents from around the Los Angeles area filled Franklin’s crowded
auditorium Thursday night to hear Simona Montanari, a professor of
child and family studies at Cal State Los Angeles, explain the
developmental advantages of bilingual education.
`Children who work with two languages from early on, it seems like
they’re better at creative thinking, or divergent thinking,’ Montanari
said. `It’s like they’re more flexible.’
An Italian immersion program at Franklin might persuade Lorena
Bignamini and her husband, Romeo Portillo, to move to Glendale, they
said.
The couple drove almost two hours from West Los Angeles to get to the
auditorium in time for the start of the presentation at 7 p.m.
`Raising our child with an Italian background is so important,’
Bignamini said of her now-3-year-old son, who would enroll in the
program in 2010.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress