The Darien Times

Spanish in Darien elementary schools proposal returns

Written by David DesRoches
Friday, November 18, 2011 09:00 AM

On the table is a program that would last for 45-minutes and happen once a week, comprising 2.5% of total instructional time and replacing the current library period. It would require the hiring of five additional teachers and would cost roughly $320,000 annually.

The schools would also encourage Spanish be integrated into the school culture, to give the students added exposure to the language. Dr. Judith Pandolfo, the assistant superintendent of elementary education, told the Board of Ed at its Nov. 9 meeting that she was confident in the program, a revised version of last year's suggestion that did not make the school budget's final cut.

"We want students to have an enthusiasm to participate in a global community," Pandolfo said. "We want to provide what we think is the best, given some of the constraints that we have, in terms of scheduling... We've refined this and we think this is a very appropriate program for our students."

The proposed courses would employ a teaching method known as total physical response, or TPR, that involves simple commands combined with movement and gestures that are repeated.

However, many Board of Ed members questioned the administration's decision to limit classes to once a week, when there are other programs that provide three to five sessions per week, for a shorter time frame. Board member Morgan Whittier said he was proponent of bringing foreign language to the elementary school, but he wasn't convinced by the current plan.

"I think if we looked at something similar to the New Canaan philosophy," Whittier said, adding that many audience members at the meeting were advocates of such a program.

New Canaan's program takes place five times a week for 10-minute sessions for kindergarteners and first graders, and four times a week for 15-minute sessions for second, third and fourth graders. It is also integrated into the curriculum, whereas the Darien program would instead be integrated into the specials schedule, replacing library time.

Library time instead would be spent working on class projects, and teachers would collaborate with the librarians to develop curriculum-based activities enhanced by the library setting.

"I guarantee that we will have an impact that is at least as good as schools that have it every day of the week," Pandolfo said. "Maybe better."

Whispers in the crowd sounded out comments such as "I doubt it" and "How is that possible?" Superintendent Dr. Stephen Falcone chimed in.

"The nature of a 15-minute program four days a week is isolating," Falcone said, noting that the blocked scheduling system at the schools would require teachers to move between schools and would prevent each teacher from developing a relationship with a single school. "We bring forth this proposal, because we think that it has the greatest impact on students' learning."

Board member Heather Shea asked if the scheduling system at the elementary schools made the implementation of a more rigorous program difficult, when compared to other towns with similar socioeconomic attributes.

Pandolfo said: "That's part of it," but noted that it's more about what the board was willing to compromise, if they decided a more frequent program was their chosen path. "If you feel it's not disruptive for people coming in and doing a spot of language here and there, that's what you do," Pandolfo said. "Given the way that we have developed our instructional program, we don't view that as a desirable way to infuse" foreign languages.

Board member Amy Bell asked if the 45-minutes per week would equal the proficiency levels gained in Westport, which spends double the amount of time teaching foreign language that Darien is proposing to spend. Pandolfo said that Westport employs 10 full-time and two part-time teachers, and if Darien were to consider such a program, "it would be a different plan."

"We're trying to get as much as we can from the program without making it overwhelmingly expensive," Pandolfo said.

"People might be interested in an option that has a bit more time," Bell said.

Falcone assured the board that the level of proficiency sought in the schools' goals were being met by the proposed 45-minute a week program. "It is about developing a baseline foundation for current and future language learning," he said.

The program

Current foreign language research at the elementary school level does little to address the success of programs such as the one proposed in Darien. Most research focuses on more intensive programs where students spent 10-50% of their time learning the language, Pandolfo said.

The target level of proficiency in Darien is not fluency, but instead, "the expectation would be for students to leave the program with an ability to understand, speak, read and write select vocabulary, phrases and expressions," stated the language packet provided to the board.

Several board members commented that while the proposed program was not ideal, something was better than nothing. Pandolfo provided the board with three implementation options: the first option suggested teaching languages to all grade levels the first year; the second suggested starting with kindergarten through second grade the first year and then K-5 the second year; the third began with K-1 the first year, K-3 the second year, and K-5 the third year.

Board Vice-Chairman Clara Sartori said that even though the once-per-week program was not as rigorous as many had hoped, "it's not a bad place to start."

"It's not high pressure," Sartori said. "I would be interested in looking at it, in terms of starting with option two or three, something that's a more gradual implementation so that it can be tweaked."

Pandolfo affirmed the suggestion, noting that the program could always be altered in the future if the board chose to do so. While Pandolfo considered option one the best choice, she conceded that any of the options would be better than turning the project down for another year.

Board member Jim Plutte recommended the second option, and said the board could always review the program later.

"In this I think we gain and we gain," Plutte said, adding that Spanish is spoken in many outlets around town, which would reinforce the learning at school. "We lose time, but library time will be used to support curriculum."

Pandolfo emphasized how the program was an "infusion into the whole school community." She said that while the 2.5% is the actual time spent on the language, total exposure would more likely be 5%, as the children would be exposed to Spanish throughout the school. "I think some of those are even more nurturing, because you're applying the language in other settings," Pandolfo said.

Curriculum

The proposal is primarily different from surrounding towns because it does not integrate with the school curriculum, or rather, the foreign language content does not integrate with the content taught in other subjects.

"At one point, you integrate into curriculum it can work well," Falcone said. "You can cover social studies through the language." Falcone stressed that the learning environment was more important than imposing discipline-specific curriculum.

When asked about examples of Westport's success, since its program has been in place for a decade, Darien world languages coordinator Vicky Mazzarelli said that by the time the children were in high school, "their fluency was better and they felt more comfortable in the language." Mazzarelli formerly worked for Westport Schools.

Board member George Reilly admitted that he was split on the issue. "On the one hand I wonder if 2.5% is enough, balanced by the infusion," Reilly said. On the other hand, "I would worry about our schools modeled on a hacienda or something. There's got to be a balance here."

Chairman Betsy Hagerty-Ross reminded the board that the administration's goal is "pretty set."

"Think about the proposal that's in front of us," Hagerty-Ross said. "Look at this proposal for what it is. This is the plan that the administration feels backs their goal. And I think we have to remember that."

Parent response

While no public comments were scheduled, the school board allowed several parents to speak their mind on the subject.

Cindy Brown told the board that she is multi-lingual and holds a bachelor's degree in education. She said she doubted that her children would remember anything from a class that took place only once a week for 45 minutes.

Lois Schneider, chairman of the Representative Town Meeting's Education Committee, asked the board what percentage of the 45-minute class would be in Spanish, and to what extent other classroom teachers and faculty would help with infusing Spanish in the rest of school.

Pandolfo said that language instruction would be taught in Spanish, but that cultural information would be taught mostly in English. She said the expectation was that all teachers would contribute to introducing Spanish throughout the school, as most teachers already collaborate across subject areas.

Kelly Scallon echoed Reilly's concerns, adding that she would prefer the language be taught without the cultural elements. Pandolfo said it would be "very rare to implement a program that's just language."

Falcone agreed. "It's not about learning the language, it's about communication, making connections," he said. "It is about culture."

Karen Christensen, an outspoken advocate for foreign languages in the elementary schools and mother of two, appeared concerned that there was not a strong goal for proficiency.

Michael Devlin, a father of three boys, asked what the homework would be like, and what kind of tools the administration would provide parents to help their children with the language. He also said that there is a large number of parents willing to pay for the program by raising funds privately, if that were an acceptable solution.

"I'd hate to see a great program scuttled because of the economic environment," Devlin said.

Why foreign language?

Numerous studies exist that claim foreign languages have a positive effect on intellectual growth, especially when taught at a young age. For the past 30 years, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language has gathered data on the subject, which reveals the many benefits of teaching foreign languages in elementary school.

According to the Council, it enriches and enhances a child's mental development, leaves students with more flexibility in thinking and greater sensitivity to language and capacity for listening, improves a child's understanding of his or her native tongue, gives children the ability to communicate with people they otherwise would have never known, opens doors to other cultures, nurtures understanding and increases job opportunities for many careers.

A Center for Applied Linguistics study reported that 15% of public schools and 51% of private schools teach foreign language at the elementary school level. Of those programs, 47% are similar to Darien's suggested program, while 39% are more intensive.

The school board will again discuss the foreign language proposal at its Tuesday, Nov. 22 meeting.

ddesroches@darientimes.com

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