New program started exposing Orono students to world languages beginning in Kindergarten.

The world language program in the Orono School District has grown in recent years with the inclusion of more language courses and even a new language, Chinese. This year, however, a program was added to the curriculum of Schumann Elementary focusing on world languages.

According to Orono High School Spanish teacher Marilyn Pedersen, it represents “a huge step in education” and may even “lead to more advanced classes in the high school.”

New teacher Angela Stracke is teaching the program to Kindergartners, first graders and second graders this year; for the first time, younger students will be able to experience a foreign language in the classroom.

The program is the result of planning by a committee organized by the district called “The World Language Innovation Team.” This committee was composed of Spanish teachers Marilyn Pedersen and Meghan Grossman, the principals of each school, Superintendent Dr. Karen Orcutt and others.

Over two years the members of the committee “dreamt up the program,” and after a search for a qualified teacher and “a summer of intense research” the program was finally started up during the 2011-2012 school year.

Stracke graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, taught for three semesters at a similar program to the current one at Schumann, and then “taught English for three years at an American School in Cali, Colombia.”

After returning to the U.S., Stracke “found [the job] posted online, did a phone interview, a skype interview, and an in-person interview with the Superintendent.”

Stracke “turned down some other jobs, because she had [her] sights set on the K-2 Spanish teaching position,” and considers her current job a “dream job.”

In many studies, it has been show that learning a world language early is good for the development of the brain.

According to an experiment by WebMD “Bilingual children are better than [single-language] children in aspects of [thinking] that require them to switch attention.” The experiment also said that “the earlier a child was exposed to a second language, the better they did.”

A similar Cornell University study stated that “Cognitive advantages follow from becoming bilingual.” Another advantage to learning a foreign language early would be help in the job market.

With many foreign industrialized nations such as China emerging, a second language “seems to be among the most critical skills likely to be sought by recruiters over the next decade,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Victor Picolli, a foreign exchange student from Brazil, began learning English at age eight. “Learning a second language has been really convenient,” Picolli said.

Currently the first and second grade students only have the option to learn Spanish. They are learning the basics like greeting people, stating feelings and telling/ asking peoples’ names.

According to Stracke, “This is a huge accomplishment,” considering she only sees the “students for a total of 50 minutes a week.” In Kindergarten, students get a broader range of languages to look at.

According to OMS Spanish Teacher Meghan Grossman, the Kindergartners are “exposed to lots of languages, including Somali, Hmong and some Native American languages as well as Spanish, German and Chinese.”

Harry Hutter is an Advertising Editor of The Spartan Speaks