Latin is dead, some say, and now that is literally true in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District curriculum. But Hindi is on the horizon. And students of at least one language may have the opportunity to enroll in an immersion program that would enable them to speak the language during the entire school day.
Last spring the WW-P school district surveyed both parents and students regarding what additional language or languages they would like to have added to the curriculum. Currently, students can choose to take Spanish or Chinese in upper elementary school, and have a choice of Spanish, Chinese, French, or German in middle school.
Traditionally, students could also choose to take Latin at the high school level; however, due to steadily declining enrollment in Latin, incoming high school students will no longer have the option to take Latin, and once those students already enrolled have graduated, Latin will be phased out of the world language curriculum entirely.
The study results were not surprising: one-third of parents indicated that they would like to see Hindi added as an additional language; and nearly that many students indicated a preference for Hindi as well. The next highest language choice was Italian; 12 percent of parents, and a somewhat higher percentage of students, chose Italian as their first choice. No other language possibility included in the survey (or that was written in) compared — each received less than 10 percent.
Accordingly, the administration and the Board of Education are discussing the possibility of adding Hindi as a language choice in the future. At this point, though issues such as staffing, and funding are being considered, no decision has been made as to whether it will be added, nor has any decision been made regarding at what grade level to introduce Hindi as a choice.
One question that has arisen among parents and students is whether, besides Latin, any other language will be cut from the curriculum in order to accommodate Hindi. Martin Smith, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, indicated that there are no plans to eliminate any of the other languages. In fact, the enrollment for German, which traditionally has had the smallest number of students, has increased since last year, and two new German teachers are being hired as a result.
Another interesting survey result is that 54 percent of parents indicated that would be interested in enrolling their child in a dual language immersion program if the district offered one. The district is looking into this idea as a possible future option, and is considering partnering with Princeton Regional Schools, which is also considering a dual language program, and has hired a consultant to explore the possibility. Smith emphasized that this idea is just under consideration and that no decision has been made as to whether this is a feasible option for WW-P schools.
