UMaine works to ease shortage of foreign language teachers, offer instruction to young learners
The University of Maine is addressing the state’s shortage of foreign language teachers and the resulting lack of language instruction for young learners in an after-school program at the Franco-American Center. Launched last fall, K–5 students in the Bangor-Orono-Old Town receive two hours of French-language instruction, twice a week, for a $50 fee. The program runs for six weeks.
Maine is not immune to what’s become a nationwide shortage of foreign language teachers. While 1,092 people currently hold a certification to teach a foreign language in Maine, just 500 of those certificate holders are actually working in public school classrooms, according to the Maine Department of Education. The shortage means that many schoolchildren in Maine interested in studying a foreign language aren’t getting that opportunity.
“I decided this was something the center should be doing,” says UMaine Associate Professor of Modern Languages Susan Pinette, who directs the Franco-American Centre.
The instructors include undergraduate French and elementary education majors. To date, upward of 50 children have received language instruction through the program.
“The earlier you start learning a language, the better it is,” says Jane Smith, UMaine associate professor of French. “The longer they continue with language, the better they are at it. We’re potentially developing future language teachers through this program.”