As a parent of two graduates of the Brookline public school’s vaunted World Language Program, the news that the program is being put on hold neither surprises nor disappoints me. After nine years of Spanish instruction, my kids could barely count to 10 en Español — forget about holding a conversation! Perhaps kids studying French or Mandarin had better success, but from my point of view, this program was a giant waste of time and money. Which is a shame, because we know it’s eminently possible to teach children a foreign language at the elementary level — just look at Milton’s French immersion program; the kids who go through that program have near-native-level fluency. Whatever Brookline was doing, was, um, no bueno. If in the future Brookline decides to reinstate the World Language Program for lower grades, I sincerely hope it regroups and reevaluates how it approaches language instruction.
Alexandra Barrett, Brookline parent and alumna of the Brookline Public Schools
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