Purpose and Background

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Purpose of the World Language Academies

Full-Immersion Academies

Residential, three weeks. (French, Spanish, German, i.e., the languages for which there is sufficient foundation in the secondary schools to enable all academy operations to be conducted in the language.)

To provide an intensive experience and unique challenge for students who have excelled in language study to continue their study of that language in a total immersion environment which is generally unavailable in the regular school environment.
To also introduce these students to a different language learning experience -- that of a less-commonly taught language (Japanese, Greek, Arabic, Russian, etc.).
To honor excellence in world language learning and teaching (the students, those who have prepared them for the experience, and those selected to teach them in the academies).

Partial-Immersion Japanese Academy

Residential, three weeks.

To provide an opportunity for interested students who have excelled in the study of another language for at least two years to be introduced to the Japanese culture and language, which are not widely taught across the commonwealth.
To provide an opportunity for excellent language students to advance their skills by experiencing a new, less-commonly taught language.
To provide an opportunity for students who have studied some Japanese to further their language skills and deepen their cultural understanding.
To honor excellence in world language learning and teaching (the students, those who have prepared them for the experience, and those selected to teach them in the academies).

Latin Academy

Residential, three weeks.

To provide an intensive experience for students who have excelled in the study of Latin to continue their study in a setting unavailable in the regular school environment.
To introduce the students to classical Greek.
To honor excellence in world language learning and teaching (the students, those who have prepared them for the experience, and those selected to teach them in the academies).

Background

During the summer of 1986 a pilot French Academy was conducted by the Virginia Department of Education. Title II ESEA federal funding was used. It is believed to have been the first in the nation in length (four weeks) and intensity (French-24 hours a day, seven days a week). The Academy was inordinately successful judging from the evaluations of students, parents, the Academy faculty and staff, the Virginia Department of Education staff, and other visitors. The students could and most did speak French most of the time. Almost 100% of all those associated with the French Academy in any way enjoyed the experience and were delighted to have been a part of it. Subsequent academies in French as well as German, Spanish, Japanese , and Latin have been equally successful in every way.

The world language academy experience:

Greatly intensifies the students' interest in and appreciation of world language study;
Significantly develops their language skills in the immersion language;
Builds self-confidence;
Allows some students to be placed at a higher level of language study in their high schools; some students enroll in college courses while still in high school;
Accelerates maturity and changes attitudes positively toward languages and peoples; and
Positively influences fellow students, teachers, and world language programs within the high schools from which the students come.

The Academies are one of the most notable developments in world language study to have occurred in the Commonwealth of Virginia. They have come to signify, even for teachers who have not had students participate, what language instruction is all about – communication. The focus of the academies is on using the target language in a functional and meaningful way.

In July of 1987, Charles Kuralt featured the German Academy on his Sunday Morning program (CBS). This occasioned numerous inquiries from around the country from citizens and educators interested in the academies. These inquiries continue today.