About Our School

The Foreign Language Academy is a Kindergarten through 8th-grade program currently offering Spanish and Mandarin Chinese Immersion. Immersion is a method of instruction in which the regular school curriculum is taught in the target language. Students enter the immersion program at a kindergarten level. The classroom teacher, speaking in the target language, introduces new words to the students. Using gestures, pictures, and games, the teacher shows the young students how to make the connection between the object and the new word. Through the target language, the kindergarten students will acquire reading and language skills, math skills, social and study skills. As the students continue to hear Spanish or Mandarin, they will begin using their target language words, phrases, and sentences.

Each grade level advances the student's knowledge of math, social studies, science and foreign language arts. Elementary students can read, write and speak in Spanish or Mandarin in each of these subjects as they acquire their academic language skills. The students also participate in art, music, computer and physical education programs.

Instruction in English reading begins in the second grade through the implementation of the currently adopted English reading curriculum from the school district. Reading readiness skills taught in K and 1, transfer to their English reading. Phonics and spelling are taught directly.

In middle school, an increased emphasis is placed on the correct usage of spoken and written immersion language in each of the academic subjects. Middle school students have the opportunity to choose as well an exploratory class: art, band, business and finance, choir, coding and robotics, debate, Garden to Table, journalism, and Sports.

All students at Foreign Language Academy are offered the following: bus transportation, free breakfast and lunch, full-time school nurse, counselors, computer labs, a full-time librarian and a library with an extensive number of books in Spanish and Mandarin. Students can enroll with LINC for the before and after school enrichment program.

The link below provide very valuable information on immersion language learning:
7 Tips For Raising Bilingual Children.

Mission Statement

Foreign Language Academy empowers students to be independent, lifelong learners who take the initiative to solve local and global problems. Our community creates a multilingual learning environment that emphasizes inquiry, leadership and critical thinking.

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE (IB) MISSION

**Mission Statement from the IB The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Primary Years Programme Candidate School

Middle Years Programme Candidate School

Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Through IB

Foreign Langauge Academy is a candidate school* for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme and Middle Years Programme and pursuing authorization as an IB World School.

IB World Schools share a common philosophy—a commitment to improve the teaching and learning of a diverse and inclusive community of students by delivering challenging, high quality programmes of international education that share a powerful vision.**

*Only schools authorized by the International Baccalaureate can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted.

For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org.

By providing an academically rigorous education in a unique language immersion program, we challenge and nurture our students. FLA is the only official International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program candidate school in the metropolitan area. Designed to foster creativity in learners, IB students are part of a global learning community where critical thinking skills are nurtured along with a positive classroom culture.

The goal of FLA’s IB Primary Years Program along with the Leader In Me program is to go beyond just teaching to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to become tomorrow’s leaders. We aim to develop students who think critically and are prepared for tomorrow’s global economy. By providing programs that offer students essential life skills and leadership characteristics, students can help build a better world through inter-cultural understanding and accountability.

Students develop unique approaches to learning skills that help them take responsibility for their own education and understand how knowledge itself is constructed. They are encouraged to try different approaches to learning and to take responsibility for their own academic progress.

FLA students are encouraged to:

• Think independently and drive their own learning
• Ask challenging questions and think critically
• Develop critical research skills
• Become accountable for their actions and educational success

Student Activities & Programs: