I have recently heard that the full-time, foreign-language program at the elementary level at Lisbon Community School is being eliminated due to budget cuts.

All students in grades K-6 will be affected by this cut. Research shows that students who learn a foreign language receive higher scores on standardized tests. Learning foreign language helps with Lisbon’s overall goal of improving MEA and SAT test scores.

Students who learn a language at that young age are more likely to be less intimidated in orally practicing it with their peers. They are more apt to pronounce the sounds of the foreign language correctly and can pick it up quickly and easily. The younger the students, the better they are at assimilating the language.

Not only is French the language of this area’s cultural heritage, it has become, at LCS, a schoolwide language. Students are speaking with their peers, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents, practicing the language with enthusiasm.

Many of our students have expressed how much they enjoy learning French. I am hoping that Lisbon residents will realize the importance of having the program put back into the school’s curriculum at the annual town meeting. We should not let the children down by letting the French program be taken away from them.

Lorraine Giasson, Auburn,

French teacher, Lisbon Community School

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