Orlando Sentinel – Lauren Roth
“The fifth-graders in Mei-En Marler’s classes at Bentley Elementary can politely tell you what they ate for lunch, ask directions and introduce themselves – all in Mandarin Chinese. Her students are on the leading edge of a Seminole County push to teach foreign languages at the elementary-school level. In the fall, the district plans to offer either Spanish, French, German or Chinese to students at each of its 38 elementary schools. Parents at each school will be offered the option to enroll their children in the program. That will make Seminole the first school district in Central Florida and only the second in the state, after Miami-Dade County schools, to offer foreign languages to all elementary students…”This is a dream come true,” said Minnie Cardona, who is overseeing the rollout of the new language programs in Seminole schools. The district’s experience has been that students who take a world language do better on assessments in English as well. “It’s one of the 21st century skills,” she said.”(more)