New York: New school to teach half of its classes in Arabic

[Harold F. Schiffman]

NYTimes, February 13, 2007

A New School Plans to Teach Half of Classes Using Arabic

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

The New York City school system will open its first public school
dedicated to teaching the Arabic language and culture in September, with
half of its classes eventually taught in Arabic, officials said yesterday.
The school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, is one of 40 new
schools that the Department of Education is opening for the 2007-8 school
year. It will serve grades 6 to 12 and will be in Brooklyn, although a
specific location has not been determined. Debbie Almontaser, a 15-year
veteran of the school system who is the driving force behind the school
and will be its principal, said that ideally, the school would serve an
equal mix of students with backgrounds in Arabic language and culture and
those without such backgrounds.

"We are wholeheartedly looking to attract as many diverse students as
possible, because we really want to give them the opportunity to expand
their horizons and be global citizens," said Ms. Almontaser, who emigrated
from Yemen when she was 3 and is fluent in Arabic. "I see students who are
excited about engaging in international careers, international affairs,
wanting to come to our school. And I also see Arab-American students who
would want the opportunity to learn Arabic, to read it and write it and
have a better understanding of where their ancestors have come from. Next
year," Ms. Almontaser said, the school, which is named after a Lebanese
poet and philosopher, will have only sixth graders. It will grow year by
year, and will eventually serve 500 to 600 students; by the third year,
she said, she hoped that half of the schools classes would be taught in
Arabic and half in English.

The school is opening in partnership with New Visions for Public Schools,
a nonprofit group that has helped create dozens of small new schools in
recent years, and the Arab-American Family Support Center, a Brooklyn
social service agency that will provide the Arabic language instruction
next year, as well as other programs. It will benefit from donations from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has helped Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg create many other small schools. Half of the 40 new schools the
department will open in September were announced last month and the others
were announced yesterday. The schools include 10 middle schools, 3
elementary schools, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school, 12 schools
for grades 6 to 12, nine high schools and five transfer schools for
students who struggled elsewhere.

Many of the schools will be located in buildings of schools that are being
closed for poor performance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/nyregion/13schools.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

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