By Cate Lecuyer
BEVERLY — Sixth-graders advanced enough to place out of their reading classes are being challenged in a new way: by learning Spanish, French or German.
While foreign languages are often the first to go when schools make cuts, a new program this year at Briscoe Middle School has roughly 90 students taking classes for a relatively low cost, Principal Matt Poska said.
"Financially, it's a really minimal impact to our budget," he said. Two teachers each receive a $6,000 stipend for taking on an extra class.
"We just thought, 'How is it that we can really push our upper-level students who are ready for a foreign language, and how can we provide more focused support for our reading students who need it?'" Poska said. "And a lot of kids were eager to take on this challenge."
Like Ricky Johnson.
"I would rather be here than in any other class," the German student said. "I thought I wouldn't like it, but I love it."
The kids have some favorite phrases that translate to "super-duper monkey" and "you are a silly goat." Teacher Michael Brune threw a party noting the fall of the Berlin Wall, and, as student Devin Nicolois put it, "anything that he says, we pick up."
The same holds true in Spanish and French, French teacher Kathleen Trider said.
"They never ask, 'What did you say?'" she said. "They figure it out. They don't have these inhibitions and self-consciousness of the older kids. They'll sing, and they'll be goofy. It's been a long time since I've had this."
Although other public schools offer foreign languages starting in sixth grade or earlier, it's the exception, not the rule, said Cherie Baggs, president of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association. Kids usually learn Spanish, so teaching French and German is even more uncommon.
"Unfortunately it's unusual," she said about teaching as early as sixth grade. "We are constantly asked to advocate for it, and it's a trend we'd like to see continue."
Former president Nancy Kassabian agreed.
"We've been pushing that for years," she said. "I don't think there's one superintendent that doesn't understand. We all get it philosophically and intellectually. But when it comes down to the dollar ..."
Subjects that don't appear on the MCAS standardized test, like art, music and foreign language, are often cut as districts try to save money, she said.
However, the standard today is every child should be proficient in a language other than English by the time they graduate high school.
"It gives Beverly students a real opportunity to graduate from high school having completed two foreign languages," Poska said.
Potentially, they could already be fluent by ninth grade and then decide to take something else, he said. The opportunity presented itself, Poska said, when he was looking over the budget and trying to think of creative ways to help students who required reading support, while still challenging the students who didn't.
"I wish all the solutions," he said, "were as simple as this."
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salem news.com.
