Cover Letter
Throughout this project I gained a lot of skills as an interviewer and executed on these skills in my interviews. The biggest key I found was to hold a proper conversation with the interviewee as that created longer and more detailed responses which created better quotes. Going into this article it was also different to others I have made in the past. In the past I have had previous knowledge about what I am writing about. In this case my knowledge was very limited and I was learning about it from my interviewees. To a certain extent this made interviewing easier as I had no clue what the answers to my questions were which made me hooked and interested in the answers to them. In the past I’ve had a general idea as to what the answer will be and with usually very few surprises it’s not always the most interesting process. What I found with this article is that since I was learning things from my interviewees, follow up questions were far more natural as I had a genuine curiosity in the topic. The articles are very clearly newsworthy as the changes being made within the World Language Department are quite massive. The interest in the topic is clear. Mrs. Dacey, the World Language Department head, actually asked me to forward the official newsletter that will discuss the changes to the World Language Department in the middle school, because she herself is curious as to what is happening. Hopefully the newsletter will be shared with me when it releases in the coming days. The article was my first attempt at some sort of investigative article and I think it went pretty well. I learned everything I was hoping to learn from my interviewees and enjoyed the process thoroughly. I gained a lot of information from my interviews and was able to display it in an informative way to readers with strong quotes from interviewees. These quotes were definitely difficult to get as there is a concern for the teachers I interviewed of them being too critical of people who are essentially their bosses. I gave the opportunity for anything to be left off the record or have them be considered an, “anonymous source”. Neither teacher felt the need to use either, but it was something that I thought was important to make sure the interviewee was comfortable, and also so that I could get the best information and answers from them. If an interviewee were to hold back on their answers the whole article would be fairly purposeless as the information would be incorrect. Overall I think the article I made was very informative and effective at explaining the changes and importance of the World Language Department.
World Language is Changing
The World Language Department is experiencing massive changes at the middle school level. With the recent retirement of Mrs. Pescatore the Italian language class is being dropped from the middle school entirely.
“To the best of my knowledge it’s going to be down to three languages next year for a variety of reasons,” Mr. Walsh, MSMS Latin teacher, said, “A lot of it was that it was simply difficult to find a qualified Italian teacher.”
Mrs. Perchase was reached out for a comment but could not give an answer by the time of publication.
What is clear is that the removal of Italian from the World Language program isn’t simply just a grudge against the language department like some on Facebook have made it out to be. It simply is a timing thing. Not only does Italian have a rather small program, but they are also unable to find a teacher to replace the other. The time is kind of just right for the program to be dropped. Of course this doesn’t mean there is no disappointment over this change.
“We’re obviously disappointed, but we’re trying our best to make sure that all world languages flourish here at the high school,” Mrs. Dacey, BHS World Language Department head, said, “We are cognizant of the fact that without a feeder program coming in from the middle school in Italian, that we’re gonna have to watch those numbers and keep a close eye on them. I know that working as a team, especially with the Italian teacher, we'll make sure that we can do our best to motivate students to either double up in a language, or welcome students who enter the high school and want to switch to a new language such as Italian. We’re hoping that even though Italian is dropped at the middle school, it will still continue to hold steady here at the high school.”
For students at Burlington High School many will have memories and feel an attachment to the middle school Italian program. The disappointment for them is plentiful and the fear that one of their favorite programs in the high school will disappear once they leave is evident.
“I’m really sad hearing about Italian, because honestly it was one of my favorite classes in middle school, and it has been so in high school too.” Meghna Geo, BHS sophomore and Italian student, said, “It does kind of feel like the administration hasn’t given much thought to how it will affect the high school. There are a good number of Italian students here, but in the future who knows how it’ll look. I would be very sad to see Italian also get cut from the high school due to a lack of interest, because it’s just something that I have enjoyed, and I’m concerned that others may not get to share those experiences in the future.”
While there are many who feel understandably let down there are positives coming back to the middle school language department. In contrast to all the change MSMS is actually seeing a return back to an older system. In previous years sixth grade was used as an exploratory year for world language students. They would spend a quarter of the year in every world language class and decide what they would take going forward based on what they were most interested in. With COVID that system went away, and students were left to pick blindly. Next year that system will make a return however.
“I think it’s great that kids are gonna get the opportunity to try [each language] out again.” Mr. Walsh said, “As it stands right now as you’re exiting the fifth grade they say, ‘pick a language’ and then kids end up like ‘oh I signed up for this language, but I’m looking over there and that looks like fun’. I think it’s worth trying things out, I think middle school should be exploratory.”
As many will remember from experience, middle school is a very big period of growth and development socially. Classes should be treated the same way in which kids are given the opportunity to explore what they like before making a decision.
The Importance of World Language Classes
With plenty of classes available to students from sciences to arts the range of classes and knowledge a student can gain is immense. A class that stands out as special amongst all these are World Language classes which teach skills that are applicable to society all over the world.
“Languages just open our eyes to so many possibilities.” Mrs. Dacey, BHS World Language Department head, said, “What languages do is they help reinforce our first language, so it expands our vocabulary. It exposes us to not just the language, but the culture where those languages are spoken. It opens doors for us to learn about different cultures and the people of the world, and also the people who make up our community as well.”
One of the main highlights of the world language classes is their ability to strengthen a community. Burlington High School has many students who have a first language that is different from English, and world language classes help to integrate learning a second language into the community. This integration helps to make students feel more comfortable learning a second language and also more involved in the community.
“When our students are able to know what it’s like to learn another language and to study another language they’re more aware of the struggles there are for someone who’s an immigrant and moves here and learns english.” Mrs. Dacey said, “They can relate to them and say, ‘I know what it’s like to learn a second language, because I’ve learned a second language and I can help you and help communicate with you.’”
While there are plenty of benefits to learning a world language at times the importance of it may seem to be not fully understood.
“At the middle school we’re kind of in this middle ground where it’s like we’re not quite a core subject, but we’re not quite an allied art like gym, health, art, or any of that.” Mr. Walsh, MSMS Latin teacher, said, “I think there’s benefits to it being both ways, but I think at any point when you’re in a middle ground like that it gets complicated.”
The position of world language classes is a bit confusing. At the high school level students spend just as much time in a language class as they spend in math or English, however, at the middle school level this is not the case. In MSMS students have world language classes only 2-3 times a week in comparison to other subjects such as history, math, science, and English.
“I believe, from what I’ve been told, that in the middle school they build upon it [time in world language classes].” Mrs. Dacey said, “They start with only this many hours, and then bump up to this many hours in seventh grade, and then this many hours in 8th grade. I would like to see that be a steady amount of hours. I know that there are other middle schools where language is one of the core subjects like mathematics, like English, like social studies, science, etc. and I’d like to see world language be seen as a core class that is met on a regular basis. Not necessarily everyday, but just as many times as the core classes have.”
While it may seem like these classes are being overlooked and undervalued it is important to understand that there is a limited amount of time to fit these classes into the day and schedule. At the high school level students have much more freedom in the classes they take and classes such as art and music are not a requirement for students. In high school finding time for these classes is far easier.
What is clear is that world language classes are instrumental in our community. Students love them and feel a strong connection to them. It’s no wonder as to why either. World language classes are unique and provide an opportunity to learn skills other classes can’t teach.
“I’ve always enjoyed Italian class because it’s so different from my other classes.” Meghan Geo, BHS sophomore, said, “It’s something that feels immediately useful in the real world, and as much as I like classes like Bio there’s times where I wonder, ‘when will I need to know that’. From my experience foreign language classes have always felt like more of a community than any others. I guess it’s a bit weird to explain but there’s more of a bond created by students in a way in foreign language classes than in a math class.”