Steve Witter
STEP_Star Network
Hola, konnichiwa, ni hao. For years, American high school students have learned these words in introductory foreign language classes.
In 1999, there is a slightly different twist on the translation. No, the meaning of the words hasn't changed. They still mean "hello" in Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. What's changed is the age at which students begin learning the meaning and pronunciation of the words.
Parents who remember foreign language instruction beginning in high school, now see their own children learning the same things as early as kindergarten. Research shows the early elementary years as the optimum time to learn new languages. By the teen years, language aptitude begins to decline.
The STEP_Star Network, a U.S. Department of Education Star Schools grantee, is among those who have converted the research into action. STEP_Star, a long-time provider of televised K–12 and adult education programs, has expanded its broadcast offerings to include language instruction beginning in kindergarten.
STEP_Star's televised offerings include three programs in Spanish (K–3, 3–6, and 6–8) and three more in Japanese (K–1, 2–3, and 4–6). In the fall of 1999, a new strand in Mandarin Chinese also will be added to the network's broadcast line-up. The elementary through middle school courses are offered in addition to the traditional high school language courses produced by STEP_Star since its founding in 1986.
And what do participating schools think of language courses telecast to elementary students? Well, the numbers pretty well speak for themselves. STEP_Star's K–6 Spanish classes alone count nearly 10,000 participants from Alaska to New Jersey.
Every Tuesday and Friday, elementary students receive 30 minutes of instruction from studio teachers known to their students as Senior Bob (Bob Sanborn), Suzanne and Margarita (Suzanne Jespersen and Margarita Plascencia-James), and Atsumi Sensei (Atsumi Tsukimori). All classes are fast-paced, colorful, and promote interactivity. Puppets, animation, and a variety of other techniques make these programs highly engaging for elementary students.
"Our elementary language classes have been instant hits," says Terry A. Munther, Ed.D., general manager of the STEP_Star Network and superintendent of Educational Service District 101, in Spokane, WA. "Through our history, we've found it usually takes 2–3 years for a broadcast course to develop a strong following. Our elementary language classes have been the exception to the rule. The response to them has been immediate and deep. The support of participating districts has been extremely gratifying."
With more classes on the way (STEP_Star is designing an entire sequence of integrated, multiyear, multitier language modules for its entire K–12 audience), the sky is the limit, quite literally, for Star Schools and the instruction of world languages.
For more information on the STEP_Star Network, please call 1?800?545?5008
Forward to Next Article