Elementary and Middle School Prize

WINNER
Richmond Elementary School, Portland, OR
Portland Public Schools’ Japanese Magnet Program was founded in 1989 with two kindergarten classes at Richmond Elementary, an urban, public school in Portland, Oregon. 60% of the student body is white and over 20% are of Asian or Pacific Islander heritage. Since its inception, the program has been expanded to a full K-5 sequence, serving approximately 300 students.

It is a model early language program, using partial immersion as the central organizing principle: children spend half the day learning in Japanese and half learning in English. The language curriculum encompasses oral language, written language and culture, with clear emphasis on children not only learning how to read and write, but also how to understand aurally and speak. Each grade level is team-taught, with both English and Japanese instructors. Language proficiency is assessed using one-on-one interviews, which are videotaped and monitored at the end of each year. By the 5 th grade, students are assessed according to Oregon Japanese Oral Proficiency Assessment procedures, resulting in a 15-minute ratable performance sample. Richmond’s Japanese Magnet Program has become a premier example of how immersion programs, particularly in the early grades, produce much stronger levels of language competency than other approaches to language learning.

Japanese culture is woven throughout all disciplines: math, reading, writing, social studies, language arts, music and art through the study of Japanese holidays. Students perform skits, songs and poetry in Japanese during all-school morning assemblies, and some students have been invited by the Japanese Consulate to speak as part of an annual speech contest. Students participated in fundraising drives and wrote letters of sympathy after the earthquake in Niigata, Japan, and in response to the tsunami. Richmond Elementary families also have the opportunity to host Japanese exchange students and interns from sister schools in Japan, who spend time in Richmond Elementary classrooms. Oya No Kai, a parent-run non-profit organization, raises funds for an annual trip to Japan for 5 th grade students. Students learn how to produce Japanese characters by typing combinations of English letters on computers and create multi-media self-portraits to share with their email pen pals in Japan.

RUNNERS UP 2005
The Glendover Global Studies Academy in Lexington, Kentucky is a suburban public school serving a little over 600 students, pre-K through 5, 67% of whom are white and nearly a quarter of whom are Asian- and Latin-American; 22% of the student body is learning English as a second language and international students represent 30 countries.

Glendover uses the study of economics as a tool for opening student’s eyes to other cultures. Award-winning programs developed from teachers’ own international experiences, such as Elephant Economics and The Indonesian Water Market, broach several disciplinary areas. The lesson on the Euro was incorporated into French and German classes. Glendover also offers a foreign language awareness programs, in which students are exposed to one language over a two-year period and then introduced to a new language; these include Japanese, Spanish, French and German. Classes are generally taught by native speakers, often parents, and are integrated into social studies, using folktales, music, songs and dances, games, economics, holidays and customs.

Smith Academy of International Languages is a K-8 grade urban, public, magnet school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Of Smith Academy’s 859 students, 49% are white, 33% are black/African American, 11% are Hispanic/Latino, and 2% are Asian or Pacific Islander. A curricular emphasis is placed on developing high levels of proficiency in both English and in a second language, whether it be German, French, Japanese, or Spanish. Literature and teaching materials from other countries are used alongside versions of the North Carolina state curriculum translated into the target languages. Results from state and national assessments in reading, math, and foreign languages demonstrate the clear academic achievement of Smith Academy students.

Students put their language and cultural learning into practice through on-line research; email exchanges with students from around the world; interactive projects; celebrations of cultural festivals throughout the year; and involvement in language and arts clubs. Current exchange programs with schools in Germany and France as well as anticipated Spanish and Japanese exchanges offer students an experiential learning opportunity. Strong relations with universities in Germany and with the Visiting International Faculty program at Chapel Hill, N.C. provide teachers with substantial staff and curriculum development guidance and resources and create opportunities for foreign teachers to teach at Smith Academy.