LA’s Broadway Elementary’s Mandarin immersion program links to Mark Twain middle school
Mar Vista: Language immersion programs seen as nexus in local schools’ pipeline By Gary Walker Despite the challenges with charter schools, news of alleged sexual misconduct at Miramonte Elementary School and a looming budget deficit, there are bright spots within the Los Angeles Unified School District, as some schools are engaging in innovative academic planning. One initiative in District 4 on the Westside that is slowly taking shape is the creation of a pipeline between language immersion programs at elementary schools in Mar Vista and Venice, Mark Twain Middle School and Venice High School. LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer, who represents Mar Vista, Venice, Westchester and Del Rey in District 4, has been working with schools that have language immersion curriculums to create a nexus between area schools that he believes has the potential to be an “outstanding instructional model for public education.” Grand View Boulevard and Broadway elementary schools have dual language immersion curriculums at their schools, and it is these two that Zimmer envisions as the apex of the language pipeline for the Venice/Mar Vista area. Broadway’s Mandarin Chinese program is quickly outgrowing the elementary school due to its popularity, and the Spanish-English immersion initiative at Grand View is the district’s longest running language immersion program. Please read more here. |