Sprechen sie Deutsch? German might not be spoken at Orange Hunt much longer.
With abundant resources to cut, FCPS is considering the removal of the 12 immersion programs in the county, including the one at Orange Hunt Elementary. At Orange Hunt, the German Immersion students take math and science in German and they take language arts and history in English.
“The immersion program at Orange Hunt is 20 years old and its one of the flagship projects in the county,” said German Teacher Kersten Trimble. “It really has created a German community in this whole cluster.”
Students in Orange Hunt’s German Immersion program have the opportunity to learn another language and experience another country’s culture. These students come from all over the county so that they can participate in German choirs, celebrate German holidays and discover the depth of the language.
“[If the immersion programs are cut] there [will be] a lot of kids who are going to miss out on that opportunity for some healthy struggle [because they are immersed in a foreign language],” said Orange Hunt German teacher Maura Lensink.
According to the FY 2017 Budget Task Force, with a $50 million dollar reduction plan, 77% of the task force thinks that cutting the Immersion Programs are a good idea. It would save the county $1.9 million dollars; however, German teachers argue that cutting the immersion programs are not the right option.
“The kids come out being able speak German and understanding almost anything, and that is invaluable,” said Trimble. “I think the county is actually getting a lot of value for the money. If you were to get these children to the same level of proficiency in a class outside [of school], it would literally cost millions of dollars.”
The county must consider the worth of these immersion programs; it must decide if their monetary value is more important than the education these programs provide to elementary school students.
The German Immersion Program can also provide students with a sense of comfort and confidence because it gives them something to hold onto as they grow up.
“It gave me something to be sure of,” said junior Aleah Leonard. “I knew I was going to take German in high school.”
Taking away the immersion program would affect the German program at WS by limiting the number of students who come in the high school already in German 3. It would also take away a rare occasion for young students to discover their love of a different culture.
“[The elementary immersion program] is really here for your average suburban American kid,” said Lensink. “And I’m hoping that it opens the world up for them, [to] see things from different perspectives and become flexible about the way things work.”