To alleviate scheduling concerns, three years ago the Lower School decided to remove French from its curriculum, resulting in three out of five grades only taking Spanish. This year, the school will begin to see more significant impacts from the curriculum change, as it now affects three grades instead of just one. Moreover, the Lower School has adopted a new schedule this year that cuts into learning time for all languages but allows more time for special areas, such as Design Thinking.
The Lower School has used a seven-day rotation schedule in past years but has now shifted to a five-day schedule. Lower School French teacher Tami Brook opposes the Lower School’s choice to update their schedule to the point where it takes away from certain special areas. Brook is very disappointed, as for the last 25 years the Lower School has been teaching French in the Lower School, but it was suddenly taken away. Brook believes in repetition, and she believes it is what the students need, and the update of the schedule just does not make sense. “In math, to get better at math, you have to get that foundation and keep building,” she says. “Once you learn addition, then you learn subtraction, and then you learn multiplication and division. You never get rid of any of the old stuff. Foreign language works exactly the same way. You constantly build on it. And the way people become . . . proficient in a foreign language is constant repetition.”
Lower School Director of Teaching and Learning Lee Steele says the new schedule works better for students. “A seven-day rotation is really confusing . . . kids and people generally operate on routines and on familiarity and consistency,” she says. The new five-day rotation also provides more time for classrooms to cover academics. Moreover, Steele believes the new building holds room for a lot of opportunity because it provides so much space for design thinking and art classes.
Lower School Spanish teacher Gabe Marulanda feels this decision drastically limits the amount of time he gets to teach his students, but he acknowledges opportunities are still available for students to grow in other special areas like art and design thinking. “I was meeting with the kids four times every seven days and now it’s two out of five . . . now the kids are exposed to more [classes]. . . but maybe spending less time in other areas,” he says.
Middle School French teacher and Director of Operations Anne Sophie Hankla believes that the Lower School decision to phase out French is a mistake and will truly affect the Middle School. She knows that the amount of interest from students will be cut dramatically because previously, half of the students taking French came from the Lower School; however, now that French will no longer be an option in Love Hall, there will be much less interest in the Middle School program. Hankla believes that removing courses from the school does not benefit anyone. “Well, I think it’s a big mistake. I think, if anything, we should be adding languages to the Lower School,” she says.
Middle School French teacher Jennifer Speir believes that the change could cause families to turn away from the school because we no longer offer French from K-12. “So now if an IBM family comes from Francophone Europe or Francophone Africa and they’re coming to Atlanta, they might choose AIS or another school system that includes language K-12,” she says. “Because really, frequency over time is what helps you develop fluency.” However, she still believes that the Middle School French program as a whole is strong and will hopefully continue to stay strong and maintain options for families and students.
Middle School Spanish teacher Leonor Taylor will not see as many direct effects in her own classes. Nonetheless, she is confident the Middle School will do its best to keep the French program alive. “But the good news is that in the Middle School, we’re still keeping [French], [and] that we’re keeping the languages that we’re teaching right now. So, that’s unlikely to change,” she said.
Head of Lower School Lauren DuPriest says deciding which students would take Spanish or French was challenging due to a higher demand for Spanish. Assigning students to French classes to balance schedules was difficult, especially when they preferred Spanish. “Ultimately, this decision was made because we didn’t have a fair way of deciding who got to take Spanish and who got to take French,” she says. “Some years there was a high demand for French, most years there was a really high demand for Spanish, and it was really who signed up first, which didn’t feel like a great system.”
DuPriest emphasizes the benefits of adding an Art and Design Thinking space and giving the Orchestra its own room. “So there’s so much potential, and I think that’s what’s exciting and challenging about construction . . . you want to make sure that you are building for the possibility and not building for current [needs],” she says.
Lower School Spanish teacher Elena Sabates believes strongly in the value of learning another language, particularly in light of the recent curriculum changes. She believes that acquiring a second language not only enhances cognitive development but also improves proficiency in English. “You know, as a Spanish teacher, I have always thought that learning a second language is very important. [It] Not only helps with…growing [the] mind bigger . . . [but] also the linguistic part about it, it makes you much better in English,” she says.