Whittier International's Language Policy

Whittier International’s Language Philosophy 

Language is a creative, interactive system we use to express ourselves, construct meaning and access information. Through language and communication with others, we develop our identities.  Because language is essential to learning, it is central to all of our instruction.  Consequently, all of our students are language learners and all of our teachers are language instructors.  Since language is a part of personal and cultural identity, we encourage and celebrate students’ home languages.  Learning multiple languages is important because it promotes an international perspective, abstract thinking, cross-cultural communication and the IB attribute of open-mindedness.

World Language Instruction:

English is Whittier’s language of instruction, and Spanish is our World Language.  2nd through 5th graders receive a weekly 30 minute language lesson in Spanish, co-taught by their classroom teacher and a certified Spanish teacher.  

Whittier International Language Goals

Student Goal
Students will gain greater understanding of language as an on-going learning process.  As part of a global community, they will develop positive attitudes towards language learning, as well as a sense of inclusion and empathy.

Teacher Goal
At Whittier, all teachers are language teachers.  In addition to the agreements in our Literacy Essential Agreements, classroom teachers will incorporate Spanish into their schedules an additional 15 minutes a week, to support the primary weekly lesson. Classroom Spanish activities include: integrated vocabulary, simple phrases, and commands with units of inquiry, calendar, games, songs, directions, greetings, and labeled text in the room.