NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR-- The North Little Rock School District got six new teachers and all of them are teaching the same subject, Spanish.



For the first time, the district will be teaching all elementary students a second language. After months of no Spanish class, Josefina Loya's fifth graders still know the words.



Pike View and Boone Park elementary schools piloted a Spanish class last year. Loya says her students exceeded her expectation.



"They were so eager and so excited to be learning Spanish," says Loya.



"Sometimes I say Spanish words to my parents and they ask me what it means and I tell them," says Michael Bell, a fifth grader at Pike View.



The North Little Rock Public Education Foundation paid for the program last year. The positive feedback convinced the district to expand. It is using $252 thousand in stimulus money to offer Spanish to all elementary kids and pay for Loya's salary along with five other teachers.



Loya says this program was such a success last year, not one parent complained and tried to take their student out of Spanish class.



John Riley is a school board member and on the foundation. He says it will take a few more years before the group can compile data to see if Spanish classes impact student achievement.



Riley says he would like to see if it has an impact on "higher grades, more enthusiasm about school, better on task, attention in the classroom, and an impact on not only test scores but general level of discipline."



Loya says the goal is to get them interested in foreign languages.



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