Language Instruction at H.D. Cooke

Students at H.D. Cooke attend Spanish class once a week. Much like the United States overall, H.D. Cooke has a large Spanish-speaking population. Each early childhood classroom has at least one teacher who is fluent in Spanish to better serve our youngest students whose English may not yet be proficient.

 

This year, H.D. Cooke is excited to participate in the Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP), a multi-layered crosscultural program administered by the American Councils for International Education program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. 

American Councils recruits and places English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from China and Egypt within American secondary schools where they teach their native language and culture. Through TCLP, each party involved is positively impacted: American students develop appreciation for and fluency with the critical languages of Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, exchange teachers improve their English which intensifies the depth of their home school’s EFL curriculum, American and exchange teachers develop partnerships and share both resources and teaching methods, and all students and teachers form deeper understanding of others’ cultures. American Councils designs and implements an extended two-week Orientation program that prepares exchange teachers for classroom teaching and life in America, coordinates their participation in a three-day professional development workshop for foreign language teachers, provides their monthly stipends and medical insurance, and, in addition to on-going program monitoring and support, visits them at their U.S. communities throughout the year.