E. E. Waddell Language Academy, formerly known as Smith Academy of International Languages, is a public K-8 magnet school in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. All tuition takes place in the medium of the second language. The school offers language immersion in Chinese, German, French, and Japanese for kindergarten through 8th grade. Beginning Spanish in offered in middle school. The school educates 1,311 students in grades K-8. In the 2012-13 school year, 891 students were enrolled in the elementary program and 420 in the middle school.
Languages
Waddell Language Academy offers students the opportunity to become fluent and literate in a second language through second language immersion instruction in Chinese, German, French, and Japanese. From the first days in kindergarten, students are immersed in the new language. This produces students who are proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a second language. These intensive language programs are taught in the second language for all or part of the instructional day. Tracks using Chinese, French, German, or Japanese as the medium of instruction cover kindergarten through eighth grade, while the Spanish immersion track covers grades six through eight. Chinese, which the school began to offer in 2006-07, was the most recently added language. The program, in Mandarin, was first taught in kindergarten and first grade, growing a grade level each year. Students recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States in both English and their language of instruction. Immersion classes feature cultural lessons in addition to language and subject teaching. The school has effective relationships with universities in Germany and with the Visiting International Faculty program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This provides the faculty with development opportunities and resources. Overseas teachers also spend time at the school on secondment.
Elementary school
From the first days in Kindergarten, students are immersed in the new language. This produces students who are proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a second language. These intensive language programs are taught in the second language for all or part of the instructional day.
Middle school
At the middle school level, Waddell students continue to study their immersion language and can begin an accelerated course of study in a third language. Middle school students can choose from a wide range of traditional elective courses as well as those that emphasize different languages and cultures.
Achievements
In 2005, 96 percent of fifth-graders scored at grade level on North Carolina's annual testing program, despite being taught in a foreign language. Also in 2005, the school was a runner-up in the Goldman Sachs Foundation's Prize for Excellence in International Education in the elementary and middle school category.
History
The foreign language immersion programs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system were initiated in the 1990s by then superintendent Dr. John Murphy as part of district-wide magnet school offerings. The first immersion program was opened in the summer of 1992 at Bruns Avenue Elementary School. It was an early total immersion program. The language of instruction was German. The first students were admitted to kindergarten and first grade immersion classrooms; the program grew by one grade level per school year as these original students progressed to the next grade, so that by 1996 Bruns Avenue Elementary had a K-5 total immersion program in place, with a complementary late immersion component for students entering in 2nd and 3rd grade. After the initial success of the Bruns Avenue program, immersion programs were set up at other schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. An early immersion program in French was started at Reid Park Elementary in 1994. In 1995 a two-way Spanish immersion program was established at Collinswood Elementary, and in 1996 a partial immersion program in Japanese was introduced at Sedgefield Elementary. In 1997, rising sixth grade immersion students transitioned to a partial immersion program at Smith Middle School. By 2001 three of the early immersion programs had combined at one site. Bruns Avenue now housed the K-5 French, German, and Japanese Immersion programs. In 2002 these immersion programs moved to Smith Middle School and combined with the existing grade 6-8 partial immersion programs to become the K-8 Academy of International Languages. By 2011 the school moved to the former E.E. Waddell High school and assumed the name E.E. Waddell Language Academy.
Name
At the end of the 2010-2011 school year, Smith International Language Academy was relocated to the campus occupied by E.E. Waddell High School and given the name of E.E. Waddell, after Dr. Elbert Edwin Waddell. An educator and community leader, received his bachelor's and master's degrees from North Carolina A & T State University and his Doctor of Education degree from Duke University. He served as principal of Kingville High School from 1943 to 1963. In honor of his community involvement, the original school campus was renamed E. E. Waddell Community Center. Dr. Waddell was principal of Charlotte's Second Ward High School from 1963 to 1969, when he was named Assistant to the Superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. From 1976 to 1979, he was Area Superintendent in the Harding area. In 1979, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent for Auxiliary Services, the position he held until his retirement in 1982. The former high school building was dedicated formally on Sunday, June 2, 2002.
Stadium
E.E. Waddell Language Academy Stadium is a 6,000-capacity stadium located on the grounds of E.E. Waddell Language Academy. The stadium is used for Waddell soccer, track and field, and football. It also served as the home ground for the Charlotte Eagles of the USL Second Division through the 2007 season. In 2012, West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg high schools planned to move several games to the stadium while their own stadiums underwent renovations.
Weekend institutions
The Japanese Language School in Charlotte, a weekend supplementary Japanese school, holds classes in the Waddell building and has offices in Suite 300 of the Midwood International & Cultural Center. The school held classes at the former Smith Academy of International Languages School building, and it once had its office at the International House.
