Every elementary school student in Fairfax County would be taught a foreign language under a new $16 million program.
“Language no longer can be looked at as a stepping stone to college. It really needs to be looked at as a necessary tool for the future,” said Paula Patrick, foreign language coordinator for Fairfax County Public Schools.
A task force of teachers, principals and specialists will recommend to the Fairfax County School Board in July that they phase in the program over a period of years, she said. The task force will suggest the first phase for the 2007-08 school year, according to Patrick.
If approved, Patrick said, the Foreign Language in the Elementary School program — already in place in a few of the county’s schools — would be fully implemented by 2015. It would add about 185 full time language teachers and cost $16 million annually when fully in place.
The scope of the project, she said, will be largely based on the amount of money available to it. Potentially, the program would offer all the languages offered under the system’s current curriculum.
“The fact that they are interested in expanding [foreign languages] to all of their elementary schools is unique for a school system of its size,” said Marty Abbott, director of education for the Alexandria-based American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Current language classes
The Fairfax Countyschool system offers 11 languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian, Spanish and American Sign Language.
Source: Fairfax County Public Schools
