Foreign Language Academy

GLENDALE — Twenty-five kindergartners at Franklin Elementary School already receive 90% of their instruction in German, and administrators are hoping to put more students into bilingual environments by adding programs for Italian and Spanish. More than 100 parents attended a presentation about bilingual education Thursday, where administrators hoped to stimulate interest for the likely expanded language offerings next year. Although the school plans to add the new languages next year, with the help of supplemental funding from community groups and foreign governments, Franklin received a grant Thursday from Italian group Fondazione Italia to jump-start interest in an after-school Italian program to begin in January, teacher specialist Ana Jones said.

There is a very promising program that is just getting off the ground in our schools. It’s called the Foreign Language Academy of Glendale, and it is based on a very educationally sound objective. Children who learn more than one language are better students, get better jobs and are generally better equipped to function in a world where knowledge of multiple languages is at a premium. We’d like to eventually have all of our children in all of our schools be bilingual.