This paper addresses the issue of integrating students with special needs into foreign language programs in the early childhood years. A partnership between a university and a charter school in central Florida began as a result of parent and teacher interest in providing a foreign language program for its prekindergarten students. Since 2014,…

Teachers and students can have ambitious educational goals, including critical reflection on the world around them, both that which is "home" and that which is "foreign." The environmental questions which face us all can be part of the elementary school curriculum, and the Foreign Language Elementary School (FLES) contribution…

Among the reported proven positive results of early world Language (WL) study are improved cognitive abilities and "higher achievement test scores in reading and math" (Stewart: 11), which are expected student performance outcomes for the Common Core Standards. The future viability of Foreign Language in Elementary Schools (FLES)…

During the 2010-2011 school year, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) piloted the After-School Global Language Opportunity Benefiting All Learners (GLOBAL) program for 12 weeks at eight different school sites. This school year the program expanded to 25 weeks and 11 sites. GLOBAL is an approach to learning that allows students to develop basic…

Seventeen years ago the author had left teaching secondary school Spanish at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, to create a FLES program at that same school. It's been a labor of love and a work in progress ever since. Along the way she has become convinced of a few things: an early start, long sequence, proficiency target and…

One cannot teach language without teaching culture; culture is the context for language learning. Cultural instruction must be integrated into all lessons throughout the year, not just taught as mini-lessons in order. Teachers cannot expect their students to gain intercultural competencies through activities that are not embedded in cultural…

Describes the creation, content, and implementation of SALSA, a program developed to provide elementary school students in pre-kindergarten through second grade with their first experience with Spanish language and culture. After a short introduction in English, SALSA uses only Spanish for instruction. (Author/VWL)

Describes a successful early start, long sequence Japanese foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) program that was identified as one of seven model programs in a national project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Highlights literacy instruction in Japanese, student assessment, language camps, visits to Japan, parent…