World Languages

K-12 Program

The World Languages Program prepares students linguistically and culturally to live and work harmoniously in multilingual communities at home and around the world. Use the links below learn more about languages offered at each level or download a document that gives a districtwide look at the schools and their languages » (PDF)

High School

The Anchorage School District World Languages Program offers various language options to secondary students. All high schools offer French, German and Spanish. Japanese, Russian and Chinese are offered at some schools. Learn more about the high school program »

Middle School

At the middle school, students enroll in two-year elective courses that are taught with district-adopted curriculum and materials.  Students who complete the two years at middle school are prepared for high school Level II or III. Exploratory semester-long courses are offered at some schools in which students receive an introductory experience to language and culture. Learn more about the middle school program »

Elementary School

The district offers opportunities for students to begin study of another language in some of the elementary schools. There are 6 language immersion program schools  and 2 FLES program schools.

• In the partial immersion programs at Chugiak and Government Hill (Spanish), Sand Lake (Japanese), Turnagain (Russian), and Rilke Schule Charter School (German) students are immersed for half of their school day in a second language environment while learning the core subjects, i.e. science, social studies, and math. Students have a ‘team’ of two teachers, a native or near-native speaker of the second language and an English-speaking teacher.

• In the FLES program at Scenic Park Elementary students receive bi-weekly lessons in Chinese language and culture with a native speaker teacher. There is also a Spanish FLES program at Aquarian Charter School in which kindergarten through six grade students receive two-three weekly Spanish lessons.

Charter Schools

Learn more about the charter school programs »

Now, more than ever, our children need to learn another language. So they can communicate, understand others and compete in a global environment. For the sake of our kids, it's time to speak up for language education. Download flyer »