Baltimore County Public Schools, Middlebury Interactive Team Up on Elementary Spanish Program
“Proficiency in a second language is an important part of any 21st Century skills toolkit, one that every student will need to be successful,” said BCPS Superintendent S. Dallas Dance. “As our world becomes smaller and more inter-connected thanks to technology, we know these skills will become increasingly valuable to our graduates in commerce, communications and lifelong learning. We are excited to work with Middlebury Interactive Languages to offer this opportunity for our students.”
Students at the participating schools will use Middlebury Interactive courses in a comprehensive program that blends culturally authentic digital materials and Middlebury Interactive’s proven language pedagogy. Middlebury Interactive, with its deep connections to Middlebury College’s famed Language Schools, created a research-based, interactive, self-paced program for the BCPS pilot program. The course will focus on listening and speaking, including weekly conversational lessons taught by a BCPS elementary Spanish teacher.
“This pilot program puts BCPS on the forefront of using innovative learning practices to help younger students gain the many benefits of second language learning,” said Middlebury Interactive CEO Jane Swift. “BCPS is bucking a national trend of declining world language instruction, especially at the elementary level, where only a quarter of schools nationally offer world languages.”
BCPS chose Middlebury Interactive for the pilot because of the academic rigor of its courses and proven world language curriculum. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Middlebury Interactive’s programs and found that its courses increase language proficiency and successfully promote cultural awareness.
About Middlebury Interactive Languages
Middlebury Interactive is the academic leader in world language instruction for K-12 students. Through its digital language courses, Middlebury Interactive prepares students with the skills and cultural understanding to compete in the 21st century global marketplace. Middlebury Interactive's courses utilize principles of the immersion pedagogy and teaching methodology of Middlebury College's renowned Language Schools, developed and refined over the past 100 years. Middlebury Interactive also offers in-person world language and English as Second Language (ESL) immersion summer academies for middle and high school students.
Middlebury can be accessed by the students by logging into BCPSOne.bcps.org using their bcps username and password.