Welcome to Lakeside Union School District’s World Language Academy
Bienvenidos al programa de "Idiomas del Mundo" parte del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Lakeside
Lakeside School District will start its 4th year of providing students with a World Language Academy located at Riverview Elementary in the Fall of 2010.
After English, Spanish is the most widely spoken language in California, Mandarin is second. Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world with more than 850 million native speakers. Spanish and English are listed in the top 4, each with more than 300 million native speakers.
Students read, write, sing and speak Spanish all day long. Many ask and answer questions in their second language with little or no hesitation.
Nearly all the instruction is in Spanish now for the 140 kindergartners, first-and second-graders in the program, which started three years ago. English reading and writing instruction is added in the second grade. Students are expected to be fluent in English and Spanish by the end of fifth grade.
In the Fall of 2010 more in depth classes in Mandarin will be offered. The Lakeside district wants to ease Riverview and Lakeside Middle students into Mandarin, which is more difficult to learn than Spanish, and develop course work in the middle grades for them to continue learning both languages. In the past year Riverview students received 30-45 minutes a few times a week in the Elementary grade level. In the Middle school, Mandarin was offered as an elective. Students at Lakeside Middle School received 42 minutes of Mandarin instruction daily.
This trio of languages will provide both local and global competitive advantages for graduates of this program.
Riverview Elementary hosts an annual Multi-cultural faire to allow students an opportunity to learn more about and celebrate other cultures.
For more information on the World Language Program in Lakeside contact Mrs. Olympia Kyriakidis, principal at Riverview Elementary school, at 619-390-2662 or by e-mail at olympia@sdcoe.net
