Pilot language program popular at Beavercreek High School

Cracker Barrel manager accused of embezzling $2K
Updated 18 min. ago
Is your “unlimited” data being throttled?
2:32 p.m.
Kasich wants 100 gigabits per second state network, smarter smartphones
2:07 p.m.
Benefit dinner held for girl who died in car accident
2:00 p.m.
Wright-Patterson relatively unscathed in Obama defense budget
1:46 p.m.
> More headlines

By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer Updated 10:40 PM Sunday, March 7, 2010

BEAVERCREEK — Dozens of high school students are staying after school Tuesday afternoons for a chance to study Japanese and Arabic, two languages the Beavercreek City School District does not normally offer during the school day.

“Our world is changing and we need to be able to send kids into jobs where (languages) like these are needed,” said Lynn Hickman-Long, the district’s assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum. “To get that many students is remarkable.”

A total of 41 students, 26 for Japanese and 15 for Arabic, will spend their Tuesday afternoons the rest of the school year studying foreign languages even though the classes are not for credit toward graduation.

School board members approved the pilot programs last year after residents from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and others in the community impressed upon them the need for training in languages outside the typical high school offerings.

The district has already had success with teaching Chinese, Hickman-Long said, with more than 100 students completing classes since the program was launched. Those courses began as after-school classes and progressed into electives because of the demand.

“The way we always approach any new program is to pilot it to see if the interest is there,” Hickman-Long said.

In the short time she has, Japanese instructor Etsuko Sprohecker, whose husband serves at Wright-Patterson, says she will incorporate culture into her lessons to help students acclimate to the new language.

“We only have 10 classes for this program so I can’t go deep into the grammatical arts,” she said. “I do emphasize pronunciation and simple words” to help students prepare for further instruction.

Scott Blake, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said forays into the instruction of different languages is not unique to Beavercreek. The state has partnered with Ohio State University to bring teachers across the Pacific Ocean to teach students. The state offers also grants to help offset the instruction of other languages. Locally, Beavercreek, Sugarcreek and Fairborn school districts offer Chinese as an elective.

“Part of the reason you see an interest there are a lot of federal funding sources for these types of programs,” Blake said. “There are more Chinese-speaking people on earth probably than any other language.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2342 or cmagan@Dayton

DailyNews.com.

Share this article