Winnetka Public School District 36 Implementing Foreign Language Expansion

Winnetka School District 36 is responding to parents' requests to increase foreign language classes that lead to fluency. The decision has been made to incorporate more time for foreign language instruction.

Starting in the fall (2012-2013 school year) fifth graders (Skokie School) will receive Spanish instruction every other day. In sixth grade (also Skokie School), it will increase to every day and they will be given a choice of French or Spanish.

The following school year (2013-2014) the expansion will be implemented in lower grades. First through fourth graders would study Spanish for a minimum of 90 minutes a week, up from 75 minutes currently.

As the foreign language program currently stands, the goal was to introduce children to foreign languages and other cultures to inspire their interest. These changes will bring a fundamental shift in goals with the idea of having children be functionally proficient in writing and reading a foreign language.

Some parents were disappointed that Chinese or another character-based language were not being considered. However, research the district has done shows that it takes twice the number of classroom hours to become proficient in Mandarin than it does in French or Spanish.

Winnetka School District 36 is working on the puzzle of school scheduling to incorporate this extra time efficiently. Administrators are working on the program redesign and will begin to revise the curriculum in preparation for fall school opening.