<div dir="ltr"><h1><span class="">Prince George’s French Immersion School named a Maryland Blue Ribbon School</span></h1>
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                                                                                <span class="">Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post - </span>
                                                                                Third grade teacher Iolna Horchler teaches a class at Robert 
Goddard French Immersion School in Prince George's. The school was 
recognized last week by the Maryland State Education Department with the
 state’s Blue Ribbon award for exemplary performance.</p>
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                                                        By <span class=""> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ovetta-wiggins/2011/03/08/ABKF0BP_page.html" rel="author">Ovetta Wiggins</a></span>, 
                                                        
                                                        <span class="">Published: December 13</span>
        <a href="mailto:ovetta.wiggins@washpost.com?subject=Reader%20feedback%20for%20%27Prince%20George%E2%80%99s%20French%20Immersion%20School%20named%20a%20Maryland%20Blue%20Ribbon%20School%27" id="bed1dfde6f-aec1-47c7-9b57-1ff18b1c10f4" class="">E-mail the writer</a>
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                                <p><span class=""></span> Florence Fomuso, a kindergarten teacher at <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-10-05/local/35277604_1_russian-students-foreign-languages-high-school-students">Robert Goddard French Immersion School</a>
 in Lanham, ran around the desks and chairs in Room 117 before she asked
 her students, “Comment Papa Tortue court? Lentement ou rapide?”</p>
                                                <p>Sydney Patterson, 5, quickly raised her hand. She knew how Papa Turtle runs. She shouted “Lentement!” Translation: “Slowly.” </p>
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                        <p class="">More news about education</p><h2 class=""><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/survey-au-president-earned-more-in-2011-than-other-private-college-leaders-in-dc-area/2013/12/15/f7a0ca22-643b-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html">Survey ranks earnings of private college presidents</a></h2>

                                                <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/survey-au-president-earned-more-in-2011-than-other-private-college-leaders-in-dc-area/2013/12/15/f7a0ca22-643b-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html"><img class="" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/blogs/spacer.gif" alt="Survey ranks earnings of private college presidents"></a>
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                                        <p class="">
                                 Nick Anderson <span class="" id="ts_6831928914267018_1387207878880">DEC 15</span></p>

                        <p>AU’s Kerwin is No. 1 in the D.C. area, getting about $1.3 million in ’11, much of it in deferred compensation payout. </p>
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                                        <h2 class=""><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/prince-georges-schools-charge-ptas-that-use-buildings/2013/12/15/916c9406-5dc5-11e3-be07-006c776266ed_story.html">Prince George’s schools charge PTAs that use buildings</a></h2>

                        <p class="">
                                 Ovetta Wiggins <span class="" id="ts_448013742485844_1387205088599">DEC 15</span></p>

                        <p>Policy results in one group receiving a $2,500 bill for using facility for after-school enrichment programs.</p>
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                                        <h2 class=""><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-teacher-quits-over-grading-disruption/2013/12/13/8b04167c-6354-11e3-91b3-f2bb96304e34_story.html">Teacher quits when he says he was told to inflate grades</a></h2>

                        <p class="">
                                 Jay Mathews <span class="" id="ts_4923996602242625_1387179758709">DEC 15</span></p>

                        <p>Caleb Rossiter says he wanted to alert his students at Friendship Tech Prep charter to their failings. </p>
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                        <p class=""><strong><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education" class="">Read more</a></strong></p></div>
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                                                <p>Then Sydney was told (in French) to demonstrate how the turtle would run. She leisurely made her way around the desks.</p><p>In
 kindergarten classes at Robert Goddard, children are answering in 
French to their French-speaking teachers. Seventh-graders are learning 
­college-level words in French that will appear on college-entrance 
exams in English.</p><p>Many students and staff members believe it is 
the school’s unique programming that led to Robert Goddard being 
recognized last week by the Maryland State Education Department with the
 state’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/two-washington-area-schools-awarded-maryland-2014-blue-ribbon-school-honor/2013/12/11/3d8ec5cc-627d-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html">Blue Ribbon award</a> for exemplary performance.</p>
<p>Many
 of the 578 students at Robert Goddard receive top honors in numerous 
programs, including ones run by the French Education Ministry and the 
National Science Bowl. More than 94 percent of the students were 
proficient in math and 95 percent were proficient in reading in 2013.</p><p>Principal
 Nasser Abi said he was happy to see the school, which has consistently 
been a top performer in the county, getting recognition.</p><p>“I was 
very excited, because at one point I thought we were forgotten,” said 
Abi, who started working at the school 16 years ago as a first-grade 
teacher.</p><p>The students were thrilled to hear the news when Abi announced it over the loudspeaker Wednesday.</p><p>“Everybody was jumping up and down,” said Jodi Evans, 10, a fifth-<br align="block">grader from Bowie. “Our teachers push us so hard so we can have a good education. <span>. . .</span> I knew our school would be in the top.”</p>
<p>Robert
 Goddard and the five other schools that received the Maryland 
distinction are now eligible to compete for the National Blue Ribbon 
award, given by the federal Education Department.</p><p>“I am extremely 
proud of the students and staff at Robert Goddard French Immersion for 
their achievement and the hard work they have done to earn it,” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/kevin-maxwell-pr-georges-new-schools-chief-sees-magic-moment-for-county-system/2013/07/27/ebf243f0-ef3c-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story.html">Kevin M. Maxwell</a>,
 chief executive of Prince George’s County Public Schools, said in a 
statement. “The Blue Ribbon Award is one of the highest honors a school 
can receive, and it indicates that everything is in place to ensure 
student achievement: outstanding leadership, effective instruction, 
ongoing professional development and strong partnerships with parents 
and the community.”</p><p>

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/real-estate/neighborhoods/Cashell-Elementary-School-school-profile,2811733.html">Montgomery County’s Cashell Elementary School</a>, in Rockville, was the only other Washington area school to receive the Maryland distinction.</p>
<p>“It’s
 rare that I’m left speechless,” Maureen Ahern-Stamoulis, Cashell’s 
principal, said. “To be one of six schools chosen is an honor.”</p><p>The
 other winners were Frost Elementary in Allegany County, Linthicum 
Elementary in Anne Arundel County, Western School of Technology and 
Environmental Science in Baltimore County and Northern Garrett High in 
Garrett County.</p><p>Robert Goddard’s French immersion program began in
 1985. The school, which shares a building with a Montessori school with
 the same name, is the second-oldest total immersion school in the 
country.</p><p>Walk into a kindergarten class, and the only language 
spoken by the teacher is French. Fomuso might use real objects or 
pantomime, but she does not speak in English, said Martha Kristy, the 
school’s instructional program coordinator. </p><p>Students might 
whisper in English, but by the middle of their first-grade year, 
students are not supposed to speak in English at all during class, 
Kristy said.</p><p>from <a href="http://washingtonpost.com">washingtonpost.com</a><br></p><p><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br>
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br>
<br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------
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