DIST. 129 to DEVELOP HERITAGE-SPEAKER SPANISH CLASSES

School Dist. 129 has received a $30,000 foreign-language-assistance grant to research the development of advanced Spanish classes for students whose native language is Spanish.

“Our goal is to encourage the heritage speakers in the Spanish program to continue on to a longer sequence of study and increase their enrollment in the Advanced Placement Spanish course,” says Rosemary Pinnick, assistant superintendent.

This effort seeks to better serve heritage speakers in grades 7-12 whose needs are different than those of non-heritage speakers in terms of development of reading and writing skills, as well as academic language, Pinnick says.

As part of this effort, the district will develop a Latino Parent Advisory Council. It also plans to engage the Latino community utilizing existing resources, such as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and local Latino newspapers, in order to communicate the value of students continuing the study of their heritage language in order to provide future opportunities for college and career, as well as to maintain their cultural identity.

The grant is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education.