Califonia’s Palo Alto Unified School District has received from $200,000 federal grant to fund its foreign language programmes.

The grant is part of the federal National Security Language Initiative intended to address the shortage of critical foreign language speakers. The initiative aims to boost the number of Americans studying Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and others in programs from kindergarten through college.

Susan Hong wrote on Palo Alto Online News:

Palo Alto Unified School District can expect to receive $201,418 in federal money to help increase foreign language instruction, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling announced today — surprising school officials.

They had applied for the grant a year ago but missed getting it by a half a point. They did not re-apply this year, but apparently the original application was kept open.

The grant is part of the federal National Security Language Initiative intended to address the shortage of critical foreign language speakers. The initiative aims to boost the number of Americans studying Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and others in programs from kindergarten through college.

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