Last week, K4 teacher Analisa Wolter opened up her classroom to visitors. Wolter is the first teacher to lead an Italian immersion class at Milwaukee Public Schools' Victory School on the far South Side.

After the first few weeks, Wolter will address students strictly in Italian and those students will hopefully be able to continue in the program through high school if the program progresses as expected.

Victory hosted an open house and on hand were Mayor Tom Barrett, Italian Immersion School principal Ralph DeVito, of course, Italian Community Center president Mike Palmisano and other local Italian-American and MPS dignitaries.

The bright-eyed students looked eager and the classroom looked bright and inviting. Wolter is the classic kindergarten teacher, full of smiles and with a lilting voice. It clearly runs in the family, too, as her friendly and personable Genoese aunt, who was also on hand, proved. The walls had Italian-language posters and the shelves were lined with books in Italian.

Milwaukee already has French, German and Spanish immersion schools and the Milwaukee School of Languages (a high school) and Mandarin will be added to the list next year.

According to a recent media story 13,500 MPS students -- that's about 15 percent -- are studying foreign languages. Let's hope that was a typo or future Milwaukee will be woefully underprepared for the global economy.

"It is important to realize that children today require tools that will
prepare them for the future," says De Vito. "In a diverse community, those tools involve knowledge of a culture besides their own."

MPS' immersion schools are a great way to achieve this.

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