In high school, many students are given a chance to take a foreign language. But for parents who want their children to speak a second language sooner, or to speak a less common language, they often turn to private schooling. And one such language immersion school in Tucson has caught the attention, and funding, of the German government. KJZZ’s Tony Ganzer reports.
(NATS child in classroom)
TG: The International School of Tucson is not much to look at from the outside..it’s a small building a few blocks from downtown. But inside, classroom doors are decorated with welcome messages in the languages being taught here: French, Spanish, and German.
(NATS Peter, was heisst das? Bell rings)
TG: This private school uses a dual immersion method to teach a foreign language to students who are as young as three years old. For half the day classes are in English, and during the other half students speak in their second language. Though this school is small, with an enrollment of only about 100 students, its German language program caught the eye of the German government. Now the school gets 6-thousand Euros, or about 10 thousand dollars a year to further develop its German program, and the school’s eligible for other perks like textbooks and funding for teachers.
ROBERT YOUNG: “It’s effectively a stamp of quality.”
TG: Robert Young is the head of the international school of Tucson.
YOUNG: “It’s the German government’s overseas schools office saying ‘This school is running a good program, and we are standing beside it if not behind it.’”
TG: The German government gives such stamps of approval as part of its Auslandschulwesen program, which gives funding and support to schools promoting the German culture, and have plans to grow into multi-grade level German programs.
YOUNG: “We’d like our students to know about other cultures and views of the world, and other ways of doing things. We say they don’t have to agree with them, but they should know about them.”
TG: Exposing students to other cultures is not the only reason the German
government is giving money to programs like the Tucson school’s…there are economic factors, too. Frank Mueller is with the German government’s foreign schools program.
Frank Mueller: “One of the ultimate goals is also to bring in know-how into Germany; to encourage people to study in Germany…where, by the way, studying is still free.”
TG: Mueller says many students who are exposed to German language and culture early in life, will likely head abroad later in life, and that’s why the Auslandschulwesen program has plans for worldwide expansion. There are 117 German schools worldwide, and 400 programs receiving German funding. There are 20 such schools in the U-S, including a 600-student charter school in San Diego.
Mueller: “We believe that the outcome of an immersion program is much better than say a high school program, and that’s why the German government has decided to support immersion schools in the US in particular.”
TG: Schools involved in the Auslandschulwesen program are expected to build programs beyond kindergarten through fifth grade levels, and depending on successes, schools are eligible for visiting German teachers, or could have staff fully paid for by the German government.
(NATS students singing Brother John in German)
TG: The International School of Tucson’s German program is only a year old, and most families with students there are either ex-patriot Germans or families with one German parent. But school director Robert Young sees opportunities for further German programs in Arizona. He says a number of German solar companies are moving to Arizona or have expressed interest in moving to the area, and an international school with a strong German program couldn’t hurt to attract others.
For KJZZ, I’m Tony Ganzer.
