The attached spread sheet attempts to present comparisons among six languages to guide decision making about the selection of a third language track for 2008-2009 with students initially enrolling in grades K-2. The languages presented in the analysis are Arabic, French, and Russian, as well as Spanish, Mandarin, and English. The following comments focus on Arabic, French, and Russian.

Russian

Russian is ranked fifth worldwide based on the number of speakers and fourth based on influence. I could only identify two K-12 schools where Russian was being taught on an immersion basis, a private school and a public magnet school. Enrollments were small in both schools. An additional 36 schools are offering Russian using either the FLES or FLEX models, both of which offer limited instruction on a daily basis in the language and thus do not require a significant amount of curricular support. (Neither the FLES nor FLEX model is used to teach academic subjects in the language.) I was not able to identify any curricula or instructional materials available at the K-5 level, and I suspect that finding highly qualified teachers would be equally challenging. While it is true that the US government considers Russian to be a critical language, it is also true that enrollment in Russian language programs in the United States has been in sharp decline in high school and college since 1990, after peaking in the late 1980s. (The number of colleges offering Russian language programs has also decreased significantly.) This decline corresponds to the end of the Cold War in 1990. Additionally, enrollment in Russian language programs was never historically significant in the United States compared to Spanish and French.

Arabic

Arabic is ranked seventh worldwide based on the number of speakers and fifth based on influence. Again, I could only identify two K-12 schools where Arabic was being taught on an immersion basis. An additional 11 schools are offering Arabic using either the FLES or FLEX models. I was not able to identify any curricula or instructional materials available at the K-5 level, and I suspect that finding highly qualified teachers would be very difficult. While Arabic was designated a critical language in the aftermath of 9/11, the educational infrastructure for the study of Arabic is simply not in place. Educational infrastructure in world languages in the US evolves from the top downward (i.e., college-high school-middle school-K-5). Arabic is only beginning to emerge at the college level.

French

French is ranked seventh worldwide based on the number of speakers, but it ranks second based on influence. Over 1.5 million people speak French as a first language in the United Sates, compared to half that number for Arabic or Russian. Enrollment in French language programs has declined significantly at the college level (-29.5%) between 1990 and 2000, largely influenced by the increase in popularity in Spanish and the perception that Spanish is easier to learn than French. None-the-less, enrollment in French at the high school level has remained solid, with over 1,000,000 high school students learning the language. K-5 curricular materials are readily available in French, and highly qualified teachers would be easier to find than for Russian or Arabic. Denver International School (DIS), a K-5 private school, has been offering immersion education in French for 30 years, which demonstrates sustained interest at the local level. It is one of over 684 K-9 schools offering French. Global Village Academy would be able to compete favorably with DIS because we do not require tuition and because we would offer French in Middle School. Further, DIS has struggled to maintain a viable complement of world languages tracks. Its Mandarin program experienced a meltdown in 2005 and its Spanish program had a meltdown this year. While DIS considered becoming an IBO school in 2004, it did not. The survey GVA conducted regarding a third language over the past year via a question on our Intent to Enroll form, although small, indicated a majority preference for French. French would also complement our school culturally. Our cultural emphasis regarding Spanish will be based on Latin and South America, not Europe. While French offers a European cultural grounding as well as a connection with French-speaking Canada, it is also important to note that there are 19 French-speaking countries in Africa and 5 in the Caribbean.

Based on the above comparisons, it would appear that French is the strongest candidate for the third world language track at GVA. It would also offer a good fit in terms of enrollment demographics since it would attract a different group of families than the core groups that are attracted to either our Spanish or Mandarin program.