The Whispering Pines Seventh-day Adventist School makes it possible for children to acquire fluency in other languages and familiarity with other cultures. Our foreign language program is unique in that ALL students, from pre-Kindergarten to 8th grade, are required to study two foreign languages -- Spanish and Korean. In addition, we offer the students of our Upper School (grades 7 and 8) the chance to spend time in a place where one of the target languages is spoken.
While study abroad exposes young people to the sights and flavors of other countries, our real goal, however, is to give them something far deeper: the experience of living among, making friends with, and learning from youth in other parts of the world -- all while immersed in the culture and language of the country.
For our first trip abroad, in March of 2014, students of the Upper School journeyed to Puerto Rico for nine days, where they attended classes with their peers at our partner school, Academia Regional Adventista del Este. In April of 2016, we traveled with 10 students to South Korea – where they had the opportunity to live, attend school, tour, and study Korean language and history for a full month at the Korean Adventist Preparatory School (KAPA) in Gyeonggi Province. We again visited South Korea in 2017 and 2019, and Costa Rica in 2018. Plans for an April 2020 return visit to our partner school in Costa Rica, Centro Educativo Adventista Bilingüe de Costa Rica, were unfortunately cut short by the current global health crisis.
It is our prayer that soon it will be safe for our children to resume overseas study. During this time, however, our local language program continues to provide training in Spanish and Korean languages and cultures for students in all grades.
