There are tons of articles that debate whether starting foreign language education in elementary school is a better model than waiting until high school. As someone who loves foreign languages, I am super jealous of my peers who learned two languages from birth because their family was bilingual. I am also super jealous of many European countries where students learn two languages throughout school or the people who are decent with 5 or so languages by the time they graduate high school. I have read that learning 2 languages from birth makes it easier to learn foreign languages later on with a bunch of different theories explaining why, maybe this applies to younger children as well. For those reasons and many others, having foreign language education in the curriculum for elementary schools may be much more beneficial than having just foreign language courses in high school.
A few years ago in my hometown of Rochester, they started what is called a Magnet school. One of the key components of this school is that there is daily instruction in French. One of my high school French teachers was in charge of planning the curriculum and I asked her a lot of questions about it. I was curious as to what equivalent level of French they would be at by the end of 5th grade and she said only French 1 which shocked me. That not only did not make sense to me, but also seemed like a waste of time then if they were having DAILY instruction in French from K-5. However, she sort of explained it by saying that this is how elementary foreign language education works and that they would be able to learn more French much more quickly and proficiently than their high school counterparts.
Should foreign language be taught much earlier on, particularly here in the USA? My foreign language loving side says yes, as the research seems to be on that side. However, I still think there are many other important things that need to be taught that there is not enough time for already. Another component of the Magnet school in Rochester is that the school year is 200 days instead of the usual 180, so they have made time for the French instruction. With all this said, I would totally be for getting rid of the art or music special and adding a foreign language special perhaps, but I do not think the rest of America, or even Rochester, would agree with me.
I think that any exposure to a foreign language, no matter how little it effects one's level of language competency, is a positive thing. Students who have interacted with another language in elementary or middle school, as your former teacher mentioned, will likely have an easier time working with the target language more extensively later on. In response to your last paragraph, I think that you would be surprised by how many people want their kids to learn another language. The US is notoriously monolingual, but it seems as though the majority of parents these days understand the importance of teaching their children a second or third language, if not for cultural enrichment then as an asset to be used when eventually applying to college or seeking out employment. Although most parents also want their kids to have some exposure to art and music, I feel as though foreign language classes are becoming more and more accepted as "real" courses and not just special activities. There certainly exists a population of Americans who reject foreign language learning and embrace "English only" politics, but this does not seem to be the majority. Most people still probably do not consider foreign language classes to be as essential as math or science courses, for example, but the general attitude towards language learning seems to be improving. I'm curious, what sort of parents have you guys encountered? Do they want their children to learn another language, or do they consider such learning to be a waste of time/take away from other more important subjects?
ReplyDeleteI agree that attitudes toward foreign language learning are shifting in a positive direction. This is partly why shows like "Dora the Explorer," "Go Diego, Go," and another Japanese-teaching kids' show are popular. Another important component to creating bilingual children is the understanding of elementary teachers. Currently, there are many early grade teachers who convince bilingual parents to only speak English at home because these children are behind the other children. But in reality, these children will eventually catch up to their peers even if they're speaking two languages. A child can only learn so many words in a day and many parents and teachers do not understand that.
DeleteTess, it's interesting that you ask about what sort of parents we have encountered because just last week EHS had its parent-teacher open house night, and I met a surprising amount of parents --more than I thought I would meet! At the open house we explained how we speak only French in our classroom, since that will likely be the interactions that our students have in the future. The parents seemed really enthusiastic about their children learning a foreign language, and they asked us many questions about how their particular child/children is/are doing. I am sure that these parents asked all of the teachers these questions about their children, but they certainly take foreign languages just as seriously as they take other classes.
ReplyDeleteExposure to the foreign language at a young age is great. My home school district started a small after school program where students had the option of taking lessons in french, spanish, or german a few times a week. Sure, it isn't much, but it gives students much-needed exposure to a foreign culture as a young and very formative age. Even if the students don't progress past level 1, I think the exposure is what counts, especially in a small, somewhat homogeneous community like the town that I grew up in.
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