The Dual Language program, which has one class at each grade level from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, teaches fluency in both English and Spanish. Once a student enrolls in the program in pre-kindergarten or kindergarten, the student is part of the program through elementary school. Upon reaching middle school level, students who were in the dual language program enroll in a special class for advanced Spanish students. Learn Spanish

The Governor wants to cut $700 million out of the public education budget.

School administrators across Virginia face extraordinarily difficult choices, as they ponder what to cut.

This week, we look at the kinds of programs that may not make the cut in Roanoke.

Shelly Moses is putting her students through the paces in Spanish class at Grandin Court Elementary.

11-year-old Jack Vance and his classmates are getting an early start on a foreign language.

Along with the rest of these 5th graders, Jack reads well above his grade level, just as Lee Pritchard does. Lee enjoys knowing how to talk to the waiter in a Mexican restaurant. "We went to El Rodeo. We had to order what we wanted in Spanish. It was cool," says Pritchard. "After the 7th or 8th grade, they just cannot get that pronunciation. And you heard them, I always tell them you sound like 'nativos' and they do so well, because in Spanish classes in middle and high school, they don't try as hard because they think it's silly," says Elementary Spanish Teacher Shelly Moses.learn spanish