ABSTRACT
Few schools offer heritage language (HL) programs in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), even when large numbers of heritage speakers of these languages are present in surrounding communities (see, e.g., Kagan, this volume). A wide range of constraints plus a lack of institutional support make it difficult to start and sustain HL programs in LCTLs. Nonetheless, these challenges are not insurmountable. To illustrate, this chapter focuses on two school districts located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) and Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD), which have overcome these obstacles and have long-established, successful HL programs for their Cambodian (Khmer) 1 and Vietnamese students, respectively.
