Elementary School Language Immersion Programs: 4J School District, Eugene, Oregon.

Elementary School Language Immersion Programs: Eugene, Oregon.

by Peter Lauf
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From the year 768 to 814, the Emperor Charlemagne ruled a nation that spanned most of Europe. By building his kingdom from the fragments of the Roman Empire, he united isolated groups of people from different cultures who spoke no fewer than 28 distinct languages.

Parents and children in Charlemagne’s time faced the question of “How do we prepare to live and work in an increasingly diverse and connected world?”

Charlemagne’s answer was often “Learn another language” as he promoted the arts and education in order to forge a new culture from the many that now lived side by side in his newly found empire.

It is fitting that the 4J School District’s French Immersion Program, Le Programme d’Immersion Charlemagne ‘a Fox Hollow is named after this great advocate of learning. The French Immersion Program at Fox Hollow Elementary School is one of three foreign language-based public schools in the 4J School District. Other elementary school language programs include Spanish at Buena Vista Elementary School, and Japanese at Yujin Gaken Elementary School.

While the idea of Elementary school aged students learning a foreign language raises some eyebrows among parents and students alike, there are distinct advantages to beginning language study early. Research suggests that picking up another language at a young age enhances future learning in many ways.

Learning a new language, such as French, Spanish, or Japanese, has been shown to improve future performance on the language section of the SAT, enhance mathematical problem solving, and speed up the learning of other new languages.

The path students take through their journey with the 4J School District could involve a publicly funded language immersion program. Much of the world is only an airplane flight or a mouse click away, speaking another language can give students great advantages in the future. With the apparent benefits of language immersion so great and the easy access to language immersion programs in Eugene, this is certainly a choice to consider. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Links

4J Elementary School Language Programs:
Fox Hollow French Immersion School
http://web4j1.lane.edu/foxhollow/

Buena Vista Spanish Immersion School
http://buenavista.4j.lane.edu/

Yujin Gaken Elementary Japanese Immersion School
http://web4j1.lane.edu/yujingakuen/Site/Welcome.html

Immersion Program Information:
What Parents Want to Know About Foreign Language Immersion Programs
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0304fortune.html

Language Immersion Programs Overview from The Public Broadcasting System
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/language.html