California doesn't require students learn a foreign language in elementary school, but encourages schools to develop curricula that include a foreign language. Teachers can tie their foreign language and culture lessons in with elementary school history, which California refers to as social science. Teachers can teach elementary school foreign language curriculum in three ways: immersion, foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) or foreign language experience (FLEX). Immersion classes spend at least 50 percent of class time speaking a foreign language. FLES classes provide at least 70 minutes every week of foreign language instruction. FLEX classes provide programs that expose students to a foreign language or languages and culture, encouraging them to continue their education in the future. If teachers implement a foreign language curriculum, students should be able to communicate basic ideas. The California Department of Education believes Spanish students should be able to communicate greetings, introductions, names of family members and pets, details about their home and background, dates, leisure activities and hobbies, objects in the classroom, food, shopping and parts of the body.
The State of New York holds that learning a second language early on offers students many benefits in addition to a varied education. Educators believe that learning a second language can help foster an appreciation of cultural diversity. New York has FLES programs in the Buffalo, Albany, Long Island, Mid-Hudson, New York City, Northern, Rochester, Southern Tier, Syracuse and Westchester regions. The region's Department of Education can field any parent's questions.
Elementary education in North Carolina has separate standards for students in kindergarten (K) through grade two, and students in grade three through grade five. In the program for kindergarten through second grade, teachers use communication, primarily, to teach their classes foreign languages. To engage younger students, teachers stick to talking about subjects they're familiar with, such as family, friends, their house and home life. North Carolina's curriculum emphasizes learning grammar indirectly through conversations and it doesn't introduce reading or writing in a foreign language at this stage. As students develop a proficiency with a foreign language, listening and communicating is still a top priority. Students in grades three through five also begin reading and writing in Spanish at this point, but the focus is still on pre-writing exercises that show students how to communicate the answer properly. Other educational materials the teachers use in these grades are CD-ROMs, the Internet, books, songs and games.
The Texas Education Code strongly encourages schools to begin teaching foreign languages at the elementary school level. Districts that offer foreign language courses must meet the standards covered in the Novice Progress Checkpoint. These requirements include understanding short phrases and respond appropriately, detect familiar words and phrases in listening exercises or readings, make lists, copy words correctly and be able to use words correctly. To meet the standards of a novice, students should also have a knowledge of Spanish culture, be able to make comparisons and communicate verbally, in writing and by reading. The code also encourages teachers to encourage students to use their Spanish skills outside of class.