Rosemont Lower hosted a ceremony on May 19th to honor their fifth-grade students who completed four years of the “Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES)” program.
Rosemont was the first Dallas ISD school to implement the FLES program, in 2018. Since then, nine campuses have adopted the program, offering language-learning opportunities for one or two languages – including Chinese, German, Korean and Spanish – in each participating school.
“When the students are learning any language, it opens those pathways in their brain for language-learning skills,” said Amy Anderton, director of the Dallas ISD Department of World Languages. “Frequently, if a parent wants their child to be proficient in a second language, it doesn’t matter if they start learning Japanese or Spanish, because they get to build on those skills and springboard into any language when they’re older.”
When Rosemont piloted FLES, the school implemented this trailblazing program in kindergarten, first- and second-grade classrooms. The fifth-grade students who were honored on May 19th were the first class of elementary school scholars to move on to middle school after learning a new language through FLES.
“Despite all the challenges that we’ve faced these two years, the students have shown a great deal of resiliency,” said Rosemont Principal Marco Barker. “As a result, we’re here celebrating today. The students are very excited about their accomplishment, and we’re looking forward to the new cohort of students coming up to continue our program.”
Stephany Cortes Rogel is among the teachers who spearhead Rosemont’s FLES, and one of the program pioneers. Besides teaching the students Spanish, she shares information about the many countries and people who speak Spanish around the world.
“I love it when students have a connection with the language and with the cultures,” Cortes Rogel said. “I have kids that are now able to have conversations with their grandparents in their home countries. They come and tell me: ‘I went to Mexico and talked to my grandma and to my grandpa. I told them about my favorite colors and favorite animals.’”
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