Two classes at Fairview Elementary School in Hoffman Estates are experimenting with a more flexible school day in anticipation of an expanded Japanese language program scheduled to start in the fall.
About 60 5th and 6th graders are the first to participate in a block scheduling program that is testing ways to integrate electives into the school day.
Fairview officials said they hope to fit Japanese language classes into the schedules of all interested students next fall, while still accommodating students who do not wish to take the language.
Currently, all 1st and 2nd graders and two multi-age classes attend a required Japanese language session three days a week.
The program is part of a three-year foreign language project funded by a federal grant, now in its second year at Fairview. As a condition of the grant, the language program must be offered to all students in its third year.
