About one-fifth of pupils in Schaumburg-based Community Consolidated School District 54 take foreign-language classes, and the district is looking to involve even more.
According to a recent report to the District 54 board, 3,400 pupils take Spanish, French or Japanese classes in kindergarten through 8th grade. But because of varying degrees of fluency among them, the district hopes to provide more individualized foreign-language instruction. In addition, the district is looking for more ways to apply technology to the curriculum.
Although learning a foreign language is optional, officials say it enhances academic achievement. Experts in business and education agree that it helps students become more competitive in the global community and the marketplace. A districtwide goal is to expose all 16,000 pupils to a non-native language.
District 54 offers foreign languages three ways.
In the dual-language program, pupils beginning in kindergarten can immerse themselves in a non-native language by spending half their time learning all their regular academic subjects in the foreign language. A Spanish dual-language program is offered at two schools; Japanese will be offered to kindergartners at Dooley School starting in the fall.
Children at some schools take foreign language for 11/2 hours a week and learn to speak it conversationally with their classmates.
There is also the traditional 7th- and 8th-grade foreign-language program, which uses a conversational approach to teaching French and Spanish.
