Today, he would be immersed in Spanish just walking outside
Very true, but not back at the time of which he is speaking.
In our district certain rising 8th graders are offered the opportunity to take 9th grade math and Spanish Our daughter opted to take the math, but laughed at the idea of taking Spanish. Her comment to the guidance counselor when she said thanks, but no thanks was along the lines of "I get a Spanish lesson every time I walk into Corner Mart." In this county, she's right, and that is partly why she chose French. She had considered Mandarin, but that is only offered online and she didn't like the idea of the isolation of that course deciding she could do that at home with her preference - Japanese.