Smith Academy of International Languages

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A predecessor of the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis, Missouri, was also named the Smith Academy.

Smith Academy of International Languages is an elementary and middle language immersion school in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. All tuition takes place in the medium of the second language.[1] The school, a magnet school, educates nearly 1,000 students in grades K-8.[2]

Contents

[edit] Languages

Tracks using Chinese, French, German, or Japanese as the medium of instruction cover kindergarten through eighth grade, while the Spanish immersion track covers grades six through eight. Chinese, which the school began to offer in 2006-07, was the most recently added language.[3][4] The program, in Mandarin, was taught in kindergarten and first grade and will grow a grade level each year.[5]

Students recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States in both English and their language of instruction.[6] Immersion classes feature cultural lessons in addition to language and subject teaching.[7]

The school has effective relationships with universities in Germany and with the Visiting International Faculty program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This provides the faculty with development opportunities and resources. Overseas teachers also spend time at the school on secondment.[8]

[edit] Achievements

96 percent of fifth-graders scored at grade level, in 2005, on North Carolina's annual testing program despite being taught in a foreign language.[3]

Also in 2005 the school was a runner-up in the Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in International Education in the elementary and middle school category.[8]

[edit] History

The foreign language immersion programs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system were initiated in the 1990s by then superintendent Dr. John Murphy as part of district-wide magnet school offerings. The first immersion program was opened in the summer of 1992 at Bruns Avenue Elementary School.[9] It was an early total immersion program.[10] The language of instruction was German. The first students were admitted to Kindergarten and First Grade immersion classrooms; the program grew by one grade level per school year as these original students progressed to the next grade, so that by 1996 Bruns Avenue Elementary had a K-5 total immersion program in place, with a complementary late immersion component for students entering in 2nd and 3rd grade.

After the initial success of the Bruns Avenue program, immersion programs were set up at other schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. An early immersion program in French was started at Reid Park Elementary in 1994. [11]Then in 1995 a two-way Spanish immersion program was established at Collinswood Elementary and in 1996 a partial immersion program in Japanese was introduced at Sedgefield Elementary. In 1997 rising sixth grade immersion students transitioned to a partial immersion program at Smith Middle School.[12]

By 2001 three of the early immersion programs had combined at one site. Bruns Avenue now housed the K-5 French, German, and Japanese Immersion programs.[13] In 2003 these immersion programs moved to the site of Smith Middle School and combined with the existing 6-8 partial immersion programs to become the K-8 Academy of International Languages.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lyttle, Steve. "Choice enrollment is no picnic", The Charlotte Observer, 2004-01-04, p. 4M. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  2. ^ "Smith Language Academy", Great Schools, accessed 20 January 2008
  3. ^ a b Lyttle, Steve. "No barriers here; In many a language, Smith means success", The Charlotte Observer, 2005-10-19, p. 4M. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  4. ^ Johnson, Tim; Alix Felsling. "Confucius Institutes spread Chinese language worldwide", The Charlotte Observer, 2005-11-06, p. 1P. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  5. ^ Coto, Danica. "China's hot export: Its language: AS CHINA RISES, SO DOES INTEREST IN LEARNING MANDARIN AT CMS", The Charlotte Observer, 2006-01-09. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 
  6. ^ Newsom, Mary. "Was it the Spanish, or was it something else? Pledge in German or French unlikely to have raised such a ruckus", The Charlotte Observer, 2007-02-03. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  7. ^ Breen-Bolling, Cristina. "Foreign teachers at home in N.C.", The Charlotte Observer, 2004-01-14, p. 1B. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  8. ^ a b "Elementary and Middle School Prize", Goldman Sachs, accessed 20 January 2008
  9. ^ O'Brien, Gary. School in July? Kids say, It's cool![1] The Charlotte Observer 07-18-1992 retrieved 02-18-2008.
  10. ^ Curtain, Helena & Pesola, Carol Ann (1994) Languages and children: Making the match. White Plains: Longman
  11. ^ Mara, Neil. French magnet principal named.[2] The Charlotte Observer 02-22-1994 retrieved 02-18-2008.
  12. ^ Mara, Neil. Schools win US grant to aid magnet programs.[3] The Charlotte Observer 07-12-1995 retrieved 02-18-2008.
  13. ^ Staff. Correction to original story no: 0108040479.[4] The Charlotte Observer 08-12-2001, retrieved 02-18-2008.
  14. ^ Lyttle, Steve. Choice Enrollment is no picnic.[5] The Charlotte Observer 01-04-2004 retrieved 02-18-2008.

[edit] External links