A Big Advocate of French in New York’s Schools: France

From left, Liam Kelly, Anju Andren and Hudson Wong, students in a dual-language program at Public School 58 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.CreditKirsten Luce for The New York Times

In the fugue of tongues on New York’s streets, French has never been a dominant voice. And as surging numbers of Asian and Latino immigrants continue to tip the balance of foreign languages toward Chinese and Spanish, the idea of learning French, to some, may seem kind of quaint, even anachronistic.

Yet in the city’s public school system, the French dual-language program, in which half the classes are in French and the other half in English, is booming. Eight public schools offer a French/English curriculum for about 1,000 students, making it the third-largest dual-language program, after Spanish and Chinese. And demand continues to grow, with two more schools scheduled to join this year and at least seven groups of parents in different areas of the city lobbying their schools to participate.

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At the Thomas Edison Language Institute in Sacramento, kindergarteners and pre-kindergartners sang a lighthearted song in Spanish last week featuring words that begin with the letter “n.”

At Susan B. Anthony Elementary, 20 miles to the south, first-grade children sat on a carpet of rainbow-colored squares and watched teacher Makaelie Her explain in Hmong how to solve 3 + 9 + 7.

It has been 16 years since California voters approved Proposition 227, the English-focused education initiative that dismantled most bilingual education in California public schools. As ethnic populations have since increased in California, however, school districts, parents and community groups have launched dual-immersion programs that have gained popularity among both English learners and native English speakers.

In dual immersion, English and one other language are used each day in every facet of instruction. Classes typically have a mix of native English speakers and non-English speakers, and they are expected to benefit from one another.

Schools have launched new programs in recent years in Sacramento City and San Juan Unified school districts, offering immersion in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese or Hmong. Elder Creek Elementary in Sacramento teaches students Cantonese and Mandarin as well as English. 

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A Preschool in Warsaw, Poland plans to launch a Mandarin immersion options next year, and hopefully build it up to a primary school over time. They are also beginning  Spanish and English immersion classrooms, says founder Anna Maliszewska. You can find out more about the school here.

The school’s motto is “Autonomy, Education, Languages.”