Hill is home to FLEX: the Foreign Language Experience.
As a part of the Anderson Vertical Team’s One World Schools program, students in grades 1st through 5th are exposed to different world languages and cultures each year.
Exploratory language instruction is given as follows:
- 1st grade: Spanish
- 2nd grade: French
- 3rd grade: German
- 4th grade: Chinese
- 5th grade: Latin
What is the FLEX Program?
The French FLEX (Foreign Language Experience) Program is the elementary school part of the One World Schools Signature Program developed by the AISD Anderson Vertical Team. The program was developed as a way to strengthen educational experiences while preparing all students to graduate ready for college, career and life in a globally competitive economy. The FLEX program in all five languages began at the start of the 2013-2014 school year in the five Anderson Vertical Team elementary schools: Davis Elementary, Doss Elementary, Hill Elementary, Pillow Elementary and Summit Elementary.
At the elementary level, a foundation is laid for future global studies as students engage in learning that builds knowledge and fosters curiosity about the world. This emphasis on global learning continues through course offerings of the International Baccalaureate Program at both Murchison Middle School and Anderson High School.
How does the FLEX Program work?
Grades one to five in each school are exposed to different world languages and cultures throughout each year. By the time they graduate from fifth grade, each student has been introduced to multiple languages and cultures, and will be prepared to select a foreign language focus for future studies. In middle school, students strengthen their international and intercultural knowledge by selecting one foreign language to study, and graduate with up to two high school foreign language credits.
The languages offered in elementary schools are Spanish (First Grade), French (Second Grade), German (Third Grade), Chinese (Fourth Grade) and Latin (Fifth Grade). These languages are aligned with those offered by Murchison Middle School’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program. Once in high school, students have the opportunity to continue in the International Baccalaureate Program, and to take four more years in the same language, with the option to study an additional language. Languages offered at Anderson High School are aligned with the elementary and middle school options, and include Spanish, Chinese, French, German, and Latin. Every Anderson graduate will be at least bilingual, giving them a competitive edge as they enter college and the work place.
Elementary Instruction
At each of the five elementary One World Schools, five highly trained and specialized teachers deliver 30 minutes of language and culture instruction to each class in their assigned grade level every week. Classes are conducted approximately half in English and half in the target language with some basic communication in the foreign language. Instruction is delivered through a combination of group work and a variety of activities where students have the opportunity to interact with each other in the foreign language. For some students, this might be their second language, and for others, it might be their third.
The five FLEX teachers travel to the different campuses and each teacher gives instruction to only one grade level across all of the campuses. FLEX teachers have designed a brand new scope and sequence for each language under the supervision of Tina Dong, the AISD Instructional Coordinator for World Language. The scope and sequence is thematic in nature and is also aligned as much as possible with the Social Studies TEKS for each grade level.
What do students learn in class?
FLEX is an exploratory once-per-week program in which students are given an excellent introduction to the language and culture of the country they are studying. Students receive great benefit from the experience and process of learning a language. This experience develops the intellectual flexibility necessary for subsequent language acquisition. The goals of the program are to introduce students to languages and cultures and to develop some awareness of language relationships, although few language skills are expected and fluency will be limited.
Students will learn to say several basic expressions in the target language such as greetings, numbers, colours and descriptors, foods and geographic names. They will learn to recognize the language the language when it is seen and heard, participate in some imitative writing in context, experience music and songs from the culture, identify areas of the world where the language is spoken, acquire basic knowledge about the culture, and hear and participate in a folktale or legend from the language. These skills and knowledge will be acquired as a reinforcement of social studies skills, and as an expansion of linguistic development.