WORLD LANGUAGES

WORLD LANGUAGES

Vision, Philosophy, and Goals

In Greenville County Schools, every student has the opportunity to acquire at least one world language through a sequential, articulated program of study.  Students should have the opportunity to begin the study of a second language in the early elementary grades and continue through the end of high school.

The climate in every world language classroom in Greenville County Schools will be one that encourages communication and high individual student achievement through student-centered, performance-based, and standards-driven instruction and assessment. Students will develop competency in another language commensurate to their development and length of study.

All students can achieve at high levels when they have many opportunities to learn in different ways and settings, and are able to acquire proficiency at varied rates.

We believe that…

1. Language and cultural proficiency lead to communication. We want all students to communicate with other people in a variety of settings.

   • Every student will have the opportunity to study at least one world language and demonstrate the ability to communicate in that language.

   • All students will begin the study of a second language as early as possible.

2. Language and cultural proficiency lead to understanding other cultures as well as empathy for other people. We want our students to look beyond themselves and their communities to recognize what is common to all human beings and to accept that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

   • Students will demonstrate an ability to identify behavior that is common to all human beings.

   • Students will demonstrate an ability to act appropriately in another culture and language.

   • Students will demonstrate an understanding of cultural values that differ from their own

3. Language and cultural proficiency lead to the development of higher order thinking skills. We want our students to develop insights into their own language and culture, compare them to the languages and cultures of others, and examine cultures through a language and a perspective other than their own.

   • Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze information in a second language.

   • Students will be able to compare similarities and differences between cultures and to express those differences in a second language.

   • Students will be able to express and defend a variety of points of view in a second language.

4. Language and cultural proficiency lead to an interdisciplinary view of the curriculum. We want our students to students act with greater awareness of self, other cultures, and their own relationship to those cultures. We want every student to make interdisciplinary connections.

   • Students will gain direct access to additional bodies of knowledge and process information in a second language using current technology.

5. Language and cultural proficiency allows students to pursue professional and personal interests with greater success and to fully participate in local, regional, and global communities.

   • Students will exit our school system equipped with the attitudes, skills, knowledge, and proficiency necessary to use a second language in their personal and professional endeavors, and in their studies at the post secondary level.

-Adapted from Glastonbury, CT Schools

Schools with a World Language Focus

At the elementary level, the district offers two types of world language programs:

1) A Spanish FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) Program in s currently available at five schools: Blythe Academy, Fork Shoals School, Heritage Elementary, Sara Collins Elementary, and the Charles Townes Center.

2) A partial French and Spanish immersion is available at Blythe Academy, a magnet school. Partial immersion students at Blythe spend 50% of the instructional day learning content (math, science, health) in either French or Spanish.  Please note that the only world language program available to magnet students is the partial immersion program.

All middle schools offer at least one world language and include Exploratory as well as Level I high school credit classes. To accommodate partial immersion students who exit Blythe’s program and other qualified students with a strong French or Spanish language background and demonstrated language proficiency, a French immersion transition course is available at Greenville Middle Academy and a Spanish immersion transition course is located at Hughes Academy.

All high schools offer multiple languages, including French, German, Latin, and Spanish. Many high schools offer AP language courses and four high schools offer IB language courses.

Dr. Jason Bagley-Cooler, Greenville County Schools Lead Teacher for K-12 World Languages

(864) 355.5480

jbagley@greenville.k12.sc.us