Our Schools

Dual Language Program

IES believes that by learning another language early in their academic car​eers, students will benefit academically and socially. Therefore, we started a world language program in French in the fall of 2016. Students are exposed to the French language and Francophone culture through singing, creating, and playing. FLES classes usually meet 2 times per week for 30 minutes at a time. In Kindergarten and first grade, we integrate Social-emotional learning. In second and third grade, we integrate art and music. In fourth grade, we focus on community connections. All students at IES will take French FLES by the 2020-2021 school year. In fifth grade, we will continue our focus on community connections. ​​​​​We use the IES FLES Interpersonal Communication Student Success Criteria to guide our students in their skills development. Our goal is to open students’ minds to new ways of communicating and thinking through playing with the French language and Francophone culture.

We selected French as our core language for a variety of reasons:

  • French has the 6th highest number of speakers in th​e world. There are currently between 220-300 million speakers and largely because of the growth in sub-Saharan Africa, that number is projected to increase to 750,000,000 by 2050.
  • French is one of​ the few languages that has a presence on every continent.
  • French trails only English as the most studied language in the world, and also in terms of the number of countries (29) that have adopted it as an official language.
  • French is an excellent language to use as a “gateway” to learning other languages in the future

For more information, please use the links below.