From Oct. 30 to Nov. 6, Lake Braddock middle school students and staff were able to take a language survey, conducted by former assistant principal, Robert Sanders.

The survey asked them what languages they would want at the school that were not already offered.

Sanders conducted the survey to see if there was a need for any new languages at Lake Braddock from the 10 languages offered in Fairfax County.

He also wanted to see if students who were not taking a language would be willing to get involved in the language department if they could learn a language other than one currently offered.

The languages that might have been added would have been open to the high school students as well middle school students to take.

In the survey, middle school students were among those asked.

The possible languages to add were American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Russian.

The survey’s results determined that no new languages would be offered next year due to not having enough votes for one.

These languages are already available at other Fairfax County schools like Hayfield, which offers Arabic.

Dana Ouart, the world languages department chair, said, “I think that having a variety of languages is very beneficial to our school because it allows students to learn about different cultures.”

George Steene, currently in Spanish Immersion, took the survey, and voted for American Sign Language.

“I think it would be a good opportunity,” Steene said. “After I finished Spanish, I was planning to take [ASL] in high school.”

A total of 280 students participated in the survey. There were more eighth graders who participated than seventh graders.

Only 34 percent said they weren’t already enrolled in language classes.

In order to be able to add a new language, the school needed to have a minimum of 75 votes from students and staff.

The language favored by most students which wasn’t already offered, was ASL, which only 57 students chose.
Korean, Chinese, Russian and Arabic came after that in that order.

Sanders, who was the principal in charge of the language department until he retired from Lake Braddock earlier this year, said the school will probably do the survey again in a few years to be sure students are still happy with the courses they are taking.