A boon for language class

Federal grants worth $2.4 million will expand successful dual-language programs at Glendale Unified School District to more campuses, officials said Wednesday.

The Foreign Language Academy of Glendale, known as FLAG, was awarded two grants by the U.S. Department of Education, a rare funding boost that administrators said would allow Spanish-language programming at Toll Middle School and Korean at another middle school campus by 2013.

FLAG began a few years ago and offers bilingual education in Spanish, Armenian, Korean, German and, most recently, Italian. Students enrolled in the Korean program spend half their time learning and speaking Korean, the other half in English, a necessary balance because of a different alphabet, educators said.

The Spanish program uses a “90-10” model where 90% of class time is spent speaking Spanish, a proportion that diminishes every year until English is spoken half of the time in fifth and sixth grade.

The grants mean $300,000 annually for three years for Spanish and five years for Korean for a total $2.4 million.

“It’s completely amazing, almost unheard of that a district would get two [Foreign Language Assistance Program] grants, especially one our size,” said Joanna Junge, director of special projects and intercultural education for Glendale Unified.

Students score as high or higher in English reading and math, earn high SAT scores and by the fifth year of a dual-language program, students perform at a high level throughout their academic careers, studies show.

New students who have moved from a foreign country also learn English more quickly through a dual-language education than through English-only language classes, administrators said.

District and school officials will travel to San Diego in December to accept a Golden Bell award from the California School Boards Assn., a recognition for districts with excellent programs in a certain category like curriculum, English learning acquisition and school safety.

In turn, Glendale Unified officials will show off the dual-language program that netted the hefty federal grants.

“As the program has grown, it is wildly amazing how successful these students are,” Glendale Unified Supt. Michael Escalante said.

Glendale Unified was also selected as the bilingual District of the Year 2009, a Presidential Award given by the California Assn. for Bilingual Education.

Still, the FLAG program has had its share of critics who argue it could undermine assimilation, a position school board members have dismissed as antiquated.

“It’s the reality; we’re in a global economy and it’s important to learn multiple languages,” Greg Krikorian, vice president of the Glendale Unified Board of Education, said Tuesday.

The federal grants will allow for expansion of the dual language programs, making a dent in long standing wait lists.

Thomas Edison Elementary School’s Spanish FLAG program will be the first to expand when it lands at Toll Middle School.

Keppel’s Korean program is anticipating similar expansion by 2013 after first being added to another elementary school, administrators said.

“It gives them new ways to grow,” said Harkmore Lee, who’s daughter is a first-grader in the Korean program.

Front-loading the language is important to make learning a little more even for non-native students, educators said.

Teachers do not translate. Instead, students often lean on each other for support.

The goal is not to rival the abilities of students in Spain or Korea, but build bilingual students who succeed academically and respect other cultures, said Naehi Wong, the Korean FLAG program coordinator.

By the end of the program, students should be able to read from English and foreign-language textbooks and converse in a new language, she said.

“We’re not making students into Korean citizens,” Wong said.

 MAX ZIMBERT covers education. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at max.zimbert@latimes.com.