Goals
To present the focus and direction of French and Spanish classes at the elementary level 

To provide content-based instructional presentation ideas for French and Spanish teachers at the beginners' level

To offer additional opportunities to students who want to reinforce what they have learned in introductory French and Spanish conversational classes

To include resources for parents who want to encourage practice of either French or Spanish at home

Mission Statement
To encourage student enthusiasm for learning a world language while developing students' ability to use the target language in real-life situations and content-based instructional presentations.

Philosophy
The overall goal of the East Brunswick world language program is to develop students' ability to use a second language in real-life situations. It is well known that proficiency in another language is best acquired after studying it over a long period of time. Students begin studying either French or Spanish in the third grade. When they enter sixth grade, they will have the opportunity to continue studying the same language or  choose to study a different one. 

Language immersion rather than English translation is the teaching method of the elementary foreign language teachers. Translating words from the target language into English is discouraged and has proven to be counter productive. According to research, when students translate into English the brain is forced to decode in two languages instead of one, which inhibits the fluency needed to converse. 

The teaching philosophy of the elementary school world language program is to immerse students in the target language, so that they begin to speak as well as think in that language. Therefore, 98% of the class is taught in the target language where students' speaking, listening, and comprehension skills are developed. 

Teachers provide a positive and nurturing classroom environment where children feel confident to speak and are unafraid of making mistakes or mispronouncing words. "Hands-on" is their approach as they use many manipulatives, puppets and interactive games. Vocabulary and phrases learned are the building blocks for conversing with each other. Classroom scenarios including skits and puppet shows provide many opportunities for the students to apply what they've learned. 

In order to create meaning and understanding in the target language, teachers sing, dance, and role-play. They have been known to stop at nothing short of "standing on their heads" to avoid translating into English. It is the goal of each of the elementary world language teachers to help develop each child's potential to speak a second language.

Themes
The Elementary World Language program includes three main units that are started in third grade and are continued and expanded upon in both fourth and fifth grades. The units are built around three themes, Ourselves, Our School, and Our Neighborhood. Within these themes the children learn content-based lessons regarding greetings, feelings, family, clothing, classroom objects, calendar, colors, numbers, foods, transportation, and more. Each of the units is connected to the next providing students with the opportunity to reinforce the material previously learned. 

In the unit, Ourselves, students learn to greet each other in the target language and express how they are feeling. At the end of this unit third grade students apply what they have learned by packing a suitcase with clothes for an imaginary trip to either Mexico or Paris. As they embark on their trip students describe what they have packed. While fourth graders team up to present a fashion show and take turns describing outfits modeled by their classmates. Fifth graders develop weekly planners to organize school assignments and after school activities. 

Our School is a unit that encompasses people, places, and things found in a school setting as well as the subjects of seasons and weather, telling time and sports. To create content-based learning, students set up a school store to buy, sell and barter classroom objects. In addition, throughout all elementary schools, students  broadcast the weather forecast in the target language. 

In the third unit, Our Neighborhood, students are taught vocabulary for food, places in the neighborhood, modes of transportation, and animals. Students create a map of their own neighborhood and explain to the class in the target language where they are going and how they are going to get there. 

In addition to these units/themes, the world language curriculum  emphasizes content-based learning. Lesson plans are woven with content from technology, science, health, social studies, reading, and math.  The family tree, food pyramid, map skills, children's literature, graphing, and fact triangles are integrated throughout lessons where students are exposed to new vocabulary and provided with opportunities to begin to create conversations with these topics in the target language. 

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