Learning a foreign language brings extreme value to a student’s education, and some states have even made it a requirement for students to take at least one foreign language course before graduating to help immerse students in different cultures and spark their interest in continuing foreign language education.
While many school districts offer foreign language courses such as Spanish, French and Italian to their English-speaking students, some school districts such as Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) also provide English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to students whose native language is not English.
Cincinnati Public School District is unique in the fact that it has not only implemented language learning technology to help its students learn new languages, but it has also extended those opportunities to parents and other members of the community.
CPS became interested in extending foreign language education to its community through its access to Ohio’s Straight A Fund, a grant that enabled the district to implement Rosetta Stone English Language Learning and World Language programs into its classrooms as well as student, teacher, and parent homes.
“A group of principals, teachers and community partners came together and talked about what our vision would be for creating a system that would help support our families that are diverse,” says Marie Kobayashi, ESL/foreign language manager for CPS. “Through that discussion we realized that in order for it to be a culturally responsive system we really needed to have staff that would reach out to families in the language they can understand as well as be able to teach our kids English as quickly as possible.”
This discussion led CPS to reach out to Rosetta Stone to develop a language program that would be culturally responsive and fit the school’s budget.
“We wanted to find a solution that met the needs of not only our students but also of our parents and our staff,” says Kobayashi. “We wanted a [language software solution] that would dig deep into language content and have some vocational modules for parents. We looked at Tell Me More which was acquired by Rosetta Stone and that was a great marriage because it helped us meet the needs of a broader group of key stakeholders.”
Rosetta Stone has provided CPS access to 30 languages, helping the district to expand its language learning opportunities.
“CPS is really leveraging our technology and our programs for multiple audiences within the school district to create a more a comprehensive approach,” says Tanya Mas, senior marketing manager for K-12 education at Rosetta Stone.
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