By Teri Carnicelli

    A concerted effort by parents in the Creighton Elementary School District to bring special language courses to one of its smaller schools finally paid off last month after the school board approved the addition of a new language immersion program at Squaw Peak Traditional Academy.

    The Academy is a K-8 elementary school located at 4601 N. 34th St. Currently there are just a few schools around Maricopa County that offer these language immersion programs, such as Desert Willow in Cave Creek and Pueblo Elementary in Scottsdale. These programs have reportedly been successful thus far, and may reflect a trend in education as parents and educators try to prepare children for the “global economy.”

 

Educators say that the youngest brains have the greatest aptitude for absorbing language and that someone who is taught a second language at a young age has the best chance of obtaining near native fluency.

    “Children should start leaning a foreign language in kindergarten and continue through high school,” says Dr. Mary Lynn Redmond, director of foreign language education and associate professor at Wake Forest University, who is also the executive secretary of the National Network for Early Language Learning. “Learning languages helps increase listening ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking—all of which are thinking processes that increase learning in general.”

    This is information taken to heart by parents in the neighborhood of the Squaw Peak Traditional Academy, whose boundaries extend from 32nd to 40th streets, and from Northern Avenue to Indian School Road. A group of neighborhood parents of preschool-aged children joined together to petition the Creighton Governing Board to start a foreign language immersion program at the Academy, to begin in the fall of 2010 for kindergarteners and first graders, and to add an additional grade every subsequent year.

    “Besides learning another language, I’ve seen a huge impact on how immersion students approach challenges,” says Cristina Ladas, a parent of a Desert Willow foreign language student and Desert Willow’s Foreign Language coordinator. “After spending years ‘figuring out’ a new language, there isn’t much that will stump them. Besides having refined their critical thinking abilities, they have great self-esteem and are proud to have skills that most other adults around them don’t have.”

“Study after study has shown the numerous benefits of early foreign language education: greater brain development, increased creativity, enhanced confidence, and of course, being bilingual,” says Yvette Katseness, a neighborhood parent. “We have a window of opportunity to expose our children to foreign language education and to obtain these benefits. It makes perfect sense for the parents in the neighborhood to join together to try to make this happen at Squaw Peak Traditional Academy.”

    The school is now taking names for a waiting list for two classes of kindergartners and two classes of first graders, and is holding an informational open house at 8 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the school.

    “I feel fortunate to have such a committed group of parents who are collaborating with the district administration to build the type of program they want for their children,” says Arnette Wessel, principal of Squaw Peak Traditional Academy. “Our goal is to provide a rigorous, accelerated education that includes an opportunity to master a second language.”

    For more information, or to sign up for the waiting list, contact Squaw Peak Traditional Academy at 602-381-6169, or go to www.squawpeak immersion.com.