World Language Program
Exposure to a second language or two at a young age statistically prepares students to think in terms of a world that is accessible to them throughout their lives.
Our World Language Program couples faculty expertise with the independent learning pacing of the Rosetta Stone language program. Rosetta Stone’s “dynamic immersion” puts native language-learning skills to work, eliminating dependence on tedious translation and memorization. It uses images, intuition, interactivity, and instruction.
The Rosetta Stone program our students will 
use was designed for ages kindergarten and up. The idea is to get the student to “think” in the new language instead of “translating” to the new language. It is set up for the student to work independently and at their own pace, with teachers helping set goals and work through road blocks.
Students in K-6 receive an online Rosetta Stone subscription to use at school, in language class, in the lab, homerooms, at home, anywhere.
At the end of the World Language exposure at St.Mark’s, it is hoped that the rich cultures of several of the world’s great languages and the traditions of the people who use these will have been introduced in a way that will make the student comfortable with and curious about the diversity we know as our world, and their minds will be comfortable and ready to study foreign languages at the secondary school level.
- ELP-Kindergarten students will have Spanish instruction in their classroom by Sra. Natasha Parra. At the Kindergarten level, language will also include an individual subscription for the Rosetta Stone Program.
- First through third grade students also learn Spanish. They they are taught weekly by the Spanish instructor, Sra. Gretell Garces in the World Language room. There, they experience cultural studies in addition to language enhancement activities. Each week they also visit the language lab for guided work with their Rosetta Stone subscription. They are encouraged to go at their own pace and can continue their web based lessons in their free time at school and at home.
- In grades 4 and 5, students choose between Mandarin Chinese or Spanish. In fourth grade, they must stay with their chosen language for at least one year. In the 5th grade, if they would like to switch to the alternate language, they may do so. During their Fine Arts Wheel, they go to their World Language session during their blocked time (4 days a week for two 6-week periods throughout the year – 1 day with specific class instruction), and they will be able to continue the program when language is not the assigned wheel for them.
- In the 6th grade, the language “sampler” includes 6 weeks each with Spanish, Mandarin, and French. In an additional 6-week period, the students may choose which language they would like to delve deeper into. Again, the teacher will instruct the students once a week, and they will be in the lab for their blocked time 4 days a week.
Foreign Language Instructors:
Natasha Para, ELP-Kindergarten Spanish
• Natasha has been with us for several years and goes into the classes of our youngest St. Mark’s students with songs and activities in Spanish.
Gretell Garces – Spanish, 1-6
• Senora Gretell Garces is from Cuba; she and her family arrived in the United States in 1998. They moved from Tennessee to Jacksonville in December 2010. Her B.A. in education is from Johnson University in Knoxville.
Elizabeth Hardage – Mandarin Chinese, 4-6
• Elizabeth Hardage will be teaching as we introduce Mandarin Chinese at the fourth through sixth grade levels. Elizabeth and her family have just moved to Jacksonville in June. After majoring in International Relations with a focus on Chinese at FSU, she taught in Beijing for two years. She then taught Chinese at the Aiden Montessori School in Washington, D.C. for two and a half years. Following that position, she was the Assistant Principal at the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School in D.C. and continues to serve as a consultant for them.
Anne Gorman – French, 6 “sampler wheel” facilitator
• Anne Gorman, our computer teacher, assumes the position as World Language Program technology facilitator, lending her oversight and administrative skills to grades kindergarten through six in the Language Lab. Additionally, she will coordinate the French wheel exposure in sixth grade. In this area, Anne will guide the 6th grade through the 6-weeks exposure to the French culture and language.
