(Is That Correct?) In a handful of American schools, first-graders are discovering math and science -- in Japanese

By DAVID AIKMAN WASHINGTON

"YON-BUN NO SAN" (THREE-fourths), says the eager second-grader as he holds up a card with the fraction spelled out in Japanese hiragana script and numerals. Then a classmate selects a segmented triangle that illustrates the fraction. "Atte imasuka?" (Is that correct?) asks the teacher from Tokyo. "Hai," says the class in unison as little hands go up to answer the next question.

This is a perfectly normal morning math class for 31 seven- and eight-year- olds in a room filled with typical Japanese elementary school wall charts. The only odd thing is, it's not in Tokyo. It's in Great Falls, Va., just outside Washington, and all of the children are American.

The second-graders are part of a program adopted three years ago by Virginia's Fairfax County to introduce elementary school children to foreign languages in a new way. With a small amount of federal funding, the county instituted "partial-immersion" language programs in eight schools in Japanese, Spanish and French. Similar experiments in partial immersion can be spotted around the country in such cities as Eugene and Portland, Ore., and Anchorage. The idea is that children's minds are stretched and their skills enhanced when they are introduced to any foreign language. By being taught math and science in Japanese, the students unconsciously acquire the language. "Learning another language opens new pathways of connections in the brain, basically connecting new things with things you know," explains Clifford Walker, director of the Anchorage program.

Such findings should be of special interest to school districts that are struggling to allocate precious resources. Only 17% of U.S. elementary schools offer foreign-language programs, and nearly all of them teach their students the old-fashioned way. Yet results from partial-immersion programs suggest that students gain more than language skills and a taste for a foreign culture. The mental muscles they build from concentrating hard in their Japanese-taught classes make them stronger in other subjects as well. Some of the most enthusiastic proponents are the English-language teachers exposed to the Japanese-taught students. Says Great Falls third-grade teacher Roberta Sherman: "It's a class from heaven. They go beyond what I expect."

The hard evidence is in the test scores: Japanese-taught children at Great Falls scored at the same level in math and science tests as other children from similar backgrounds. But in English-taught subjects, the immersion children scored 8 percentile points higher on a standard achievement test. The advantages show up in subtler ways as well. "The kids are more flexible in their analysis and their critical thinking," says Great Falls principal Gina Ross, an ardent advocate of the program. "They are more open-minded."

The teachers are quick to note other factors that could account for the students' successes. Second-language students may be especially motivated, more willing to take chances and accept challenges. In most partial-immersion schools, half the day is taught in English and half in Japanese. This means that students study math and science in Japanese and other subjects in English. The high verbal concentration required for Japanese clearly has a beneficial spillover effect in the English subjects.

Still, it takes a brave student to dive into the deep water of a complicated subject. "For the first couple of weeks, I couldn't understand anything," recalls Great Falls second-grader Courtney Pilka. "But after I got used to it, I started liking it a lot. I learned the alphabet and the numbers. Now it's part of my life." For many students, this is true outside the classroom as well, as they are inspired to explore Japanese restaurants, art and music. "I think the cultural experience is every bit as important as the language," says Jill McKee, a college teacher whose son Robert is in second grade. "He's exposed to another way of doing things." Tokyo-born Sumiko Limbocker, the second-grade techer, adds with a laugh, "When the children meet me in the supermarket, they bow and say, 'Konnichi-wa' ((Hello))."

The benefits of bilingual study may also apply to students who learn English as a second language. According to Alma Flor Ada, a multicultural language expert at the University of San Francisco, many students, particularly Asians, who study English in immersion programs back home or upon arrival in the U.S. have the same learning patterns and achievement characteristics. That might account for the steady stream of visitors to Great Falls elementary, especially from Japan. Now that country has paid the young students of its own language the ultimate compliment: Japan wants to establish similar partial- immersion programs in elementary schools -- using English.

With reporting by Miko Yim/Portland