Oregonian article "Adapting, school look East" by Maya Blackmun:
When the school year starts at Sherwood Middle School this fall, a new course will reflect how school districts -- even smaller ones like Sherwood -- are using second-language courses to meet changing global and domestic needs.
Adding Mandarin Chinese to its instruction will help Sherwood explore ways to expand beyond Spanish and French.
French and German are on the wane, and languages deemed critical by the U.S. government for Americans to learn -- Mandarin, Korean, Arabic and Russian in particular -- are gaining attention.
To that end, Portland, Medford, Salem-Keizer and Sherwood school districts have all joined a University of Oregon study on the feasibility of creating more varied second-language programs.
Changing dynamics in trade and national security -- and to some degree immigration and heritage ties -- are driving the interest in new second languages, especially Mandarin, said Amy Harter, coordinator of the study and of the Oregon Chinese Flagship Center at the university's Center for Applied Second Language Studies....
With a $300,000 federal grant, the university center began researching two months ago what languages are taught in Oregon schools, how in-depth that instruction is, what demand exists for broader programs and what more can be provided....
About 60 people are expected to attend a language summit Friday in Portland that will draw officials from the University of Oregon's center, schools, business and state government to identify what second-language skills are needed in the state....
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