World Language Task Force Meeting
February 21, 2008

Minutes

Our meeting began at 7pm and adjourned at 9:05pm. In attendance were Dr. Bucci, Mrs. Kelly, Mildred Sierra, Diane Todorowski, Julie Maley, Maria Osio, Christine Misback, Donna Stephenson, Wendy Comparnolle, Adriana Alatorre and Fabienne Prokesch.

Please note that our next meeting will be Thursday, April 10 th at 7pm in the Dewitt Blank Room.

The charge to the Task Force from the Board was reiterated to provide a focus during discussions. The World Language Elementary Task Force is to research best practices in World Language Instruction and present its findings to the School Board.

Each of the four Sub-Committees gave a brief summary of their findings to the large group. The Sub-Committees are #1 Community Support, #2 Types of Programs, #3 Languages to be taught, #4 Educational Benefits of World Language stud at an early age. Detailed minutes for each of these Sub-Committees may be found on the school website.

Dr. Bucci wrote the following statements on the easel for everyone to see. These were statements that everyone agreed upon moving forward with our report.

1)Instruction of WL prepares all students to be able to compete in a global economy/society.

2)Instruction should be done by a certified teacher at least 30 minutes 3 X per week.

It was at that point that the group began a discussion concerning point #2 regarding how to actually attain that goal with the given schedule of a K-3 student or even a 4 th or 5 th grade student. Most of the meeting was spent discussing how the Task Force’s recommendation of at least 30 minutes of language instruction, 3 times per week would impact the current curriculum. The cost of such a program was also part of the discussion. The point was made that in other countries, though the curricula varied, generally students studied a second or third language with their academic courses. Additional courses such as keyboarding, art, physical education and music were taken after school or on the weekend. Mrs. Kelly added that today was AFS day where traditionally the area high school exchange students visited the Middle School for the day to answer cultural questions as well as share areas of interest such as music, dance and favorite activities.

Of the nine students asked about when their second and third language instruction began, eight replied that it was in 4 th grade (the equivalent thereof) and one replied that she started in primary school. The answers of the exchange students matched the research of the Sub-Committees. All exchange students’ English skills were very functional. Mrs. Kelly stated that AFS Day was one of the most favorite days of the Middle School students. The question was again brought about as to how the district could provide such a program for elementary students without giving up any other subjects.

The group discussed time at the end of the day or even giving up one of the special classes which might have repetition throughout the course of students’ school years. In the end, Spanish was named as the language chosen to begin the elementary program. The 4 th grade seemed an attainable short-term goal for beginning instruction although many members felt strongly that Pine-Richland School District needs to be competitive with similar schools like Mount Lebanon and Upper St. Clair by offering a K-12 language program. This would be a long-term goal of the Elementary World Language Task Force.

Before adjourning, the group decided that each Sub-Committee would create a 2-3 page chapter for the report to the School Board. Groups were encouraged to meet as often as necessary to complete this task. Dr. Bucci and Mrs. Kelly agreed that they would attend as many of these meeting possible.