After months without taking a foreign language, students in elementary school will get to start learning to speak Spanish again in March.
Last year, the district decided that the way students were learning Spanish was not at a level it should be when they got to Middle School, so administrators scrapped the entire program and decided to bring in a new program.
But it was more complicated than originally thought to get the program started and administrators decided that they needed to get input from World Language teachers in 6-12 grades before making a decision.
World Language was originally supposed to start in the fall, and then the district was going to start a pilot program starting in January, and have now settled on a program that begins in March.
"I'm sorry about the delay. I take full responsibility for that," said Superintendent Dr. James Crisfield. "But it was more complicated than we originally thought."
The disrict is spending $14,000 on the three-month trial of the Rosetta Stone Classroom Education Program, and will spend roughly about $75,000 on implementing the program next year if it works well, he said.
"This is not the Rosetta Stone you see at the airport," Crisfield said. "This is the education program used in a lot of schools around the country. And has tools for teachers."
There's an online component to the program as well that allows students to work at their own pace and begin speaking the language quickly.
Zoinks
5:55 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
I accept Dr. Crisfield's apology over this not being ready to go as promised at the start of the year. But now the district needs to keep to its new schedule and have a full World Language program in place in the elementary schools in the fall.
Acton
9:35 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
It is hard to make up for lost time when it comes to nourishing one's facility for a foreign language. There should have been an interim foreign language program in place that could have been rolled into the new program.
Zoinks
9:38 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
I certainly absolutely agree that there should have been a plan in place, and we were told that there was one. But that is all water under the bridge now and the important think is that the district make good and implement a robust World Language program in the elementary schools going forward.
WRR
10:32 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
"the loss of state aid..." then please explain this: http://millburn.patch.com/articles/boe-to-hold-special-meeting-on-extra-state-aid
The Superintendent has apologized for the delay and I'm looking forward to it's implementation. Period. Really don't need excuses from non BOE/school admin.
WRR
1:36 pm on Friday, February 17, 2012
According to NJAC 6A:8-8.1, NJ schools are required to have a world language programs in the K-5 grades. This should have been budgeted regardless of the cuts as it is a state required core curriculum.
Nasty? You have projected yourself to be a person "in the know" with your comment. Unless you were at the budget meeting and can speak directly to this line item, it's superfluous. Dr. Crisfield's comments were more than enough.
M OKeef
10:13 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
Hooray for progress. Is this a pilot program for a limited number of students or are all students participating? If limited pilot, will all students be participating as of next September?
Joanne Smythe
6:25 pm on Saturday, February 18, 2012
How did "World Language" become teaching only Spanish?
Zoinks
1:49 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
So now after the supposed roll out of Rosetta Stone and investment in head phones, etc I have just found out that they have now, with no announcement or anything dropped the whole thing (supposedly due to a software issue). So now we are back to no program in the elementary schools. What a fiasco.