State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell
Congratulates Napa School for International Honor
SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that Napa Valley Language Academy was selected by the Ministry of Education of Spain as an International Spanish Academy. This is the second time a California school has received this distinction since 2005.
"I am proud that the Spanish Ministry of Education has selected Napa Valley Language Academy for this high honor," said O'Connell. "The Academy has a wonderful program that immerses students in a foreign language and cultural activities. The Academy helps students learn to embrace our state's diversity and prepares them for our hypercompetitive global economy."Napa Valley Language Academy, in the Napa Valley Unified School District, has offered a Spanish/English dual language immersion program for 14 years. The Academy enrolls a balanced number of native English and native Spanish speakers, creating a much sought-after, vibrant, and fully integrated school community in the city of Napa. In addition to students acquiring bilingual competency, they are also given the opportunity to explore their talents in visual and performing arts through such enrichment classes as world music, ballet folklorico, hip hop, classical ballet, science, garden explorations, and multicultural art classes. A school-wide instrumental music program works in partnership with the Napa Valley Symphony called "Heart Strings" that provides weekly violin and band classes for all 700 students.
The Academy was recently invited to become a member of the prestigious International Spanish Academies that is a consortium of Spanish immersion schools in the United States and Canada sponsored by the Ministry of Education of Spain. There are 68 throughout the United States and 17 in Canada. Academy students will receive an additional certificate upon completing the sixth grade acknowledging their literacy skills in two languages.
The International Spanish Academies program is part of the California Department of Education's Memorandum of Understand with the Ministry of Education of Spain.
The Spanish Ministry offers their International Spanish Academies many benefits. These include a full-time language assistant fully paid by the Ministry, access to the double academic certification, specific teacher training activities in the United States, sister schools in Spain, participation in the International Foundation of Sister Schools sponsored by the Ministry, pedagogical guidance, development of educational projects with Spanish schools using Internet support, and, when available, classroom and curricular materials and resources. With the double academic certification, a graduating high school student may enter a university in Spain or in a European Union country.
The goals of the International Spanish Academies are to:
- Educate students in the values of multicultural education that make possible international communication and respect among cultures;
- Train students to express themselves and effectively use English and Spanish in their personal relationships as well as in the learning process;
- Facilitate and promote student access to centers of higher education of recognized academic excellence in the United States as well as in Spain, Europe, and Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas;
- Prepare students for their professional development in an international context; and
- Foster participation of different groups and segments of society in an integrated educational project.
For more information on the International Spanish Academies, please visit Estados Unidos (Outside Source).
Editor's note: The contact at the Napa Valley Language Academy is Principal Deb Wallace, at 707-253-3678 ordwallace@nvusd.k12.ca.us.