The Importance of Teaching Second Languages in Elementary School

from “How Important Is Knowing a Foreign Language?” by Jeremy Engle 1 Have you ever studied a foreign language? Do you think it’s still necessary to do so? 2 Isn’t it easy to find people who speak English in other countries if you really need to communicate with someone? And aren’t there translation apps for your phone you can download anyway? 3 What is the value of knowing more than one language in the 21st century? Is it really worth the time, effort and investment? 4 In “Do You Speak My Language? You Should,” Bénédicte de Montlaur writes: In January, the Modern Language Association made an astonishing announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education: From 2013 to 2016, colleges across the United States cut 651 foreign language programs. French was the hardest hit, losing 129 programs, followed by Spanish with 118, German with 86 and Italian with 56. Once these programs close, they are very hard to reopen. According to a Pew study from last year, only 20 percent of K–12 students in America study a foreign language (compared with an average of 92 percent in Europe), and only 10 states and the District of Columbia make foreign-language learning a high school graduation requirement. The decline in language education could have devastating effects for generations to come. With fewer options for learning a foreign language in school, a sharp decrease in interest is likely to follow. According to the Modern Language Association, enrollment in college-level foreign-language courses dropped 9.2 percent from 2013 to 2016. The association says these changes are most likely a direct result of the 2008 recession, which hit foreign-language degree programs harder than many other humanities programs. As programs shrink so does the supply of qualified teachers. It’s a vicious cycle. . . . 5 The article concludes: If Americans want the next generation to be active participants in a multilingual world, dual-language and multicultural education is crucial. Government spending on foreignlanguage education and the education of qualified foreign-language teachers needs to Page 5 GO ON Writing increase. More states need to enforce language-education requirements. Colleges need to recognize the importance of their foreign-language education programs. In turn, more parents, students and teachers need to lobby for language programs. The necessity of foreign-language education could not be clearer right now. The future in America, and everywhere, is multilingual. And so is the present. Where English-Speaking Adults Who Are Fluent in Another Language Acquired the Non-English Language, 2006 Elsewhere 8.2% School 16.3% Percentage of English-Speaking Adults

Language Learning by Jamie Ducharme adapted by TFK editors 1 Learning a new language can be tricky at any age. But in a recent study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a new language seem to quickly drop off: 10. Does this mean you should quit your French class if you’re older than 10? Non! 2 The study appeared in the journal Cognition. It found that it’s “nearly impossible” to reach fluency if you start learning a language after age 10. That’s not because language skills start to go downhill. “You’re still learning fast,” says Joshua Hartshorne, one of the study’s coauthors. “It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old.” People who start learning a new language after age 10 may still become quite good, the authors say. But they are unlikely to become fluent. A Child’s Mind 3 Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more adaptable than those of adults. This means they’re better able to respond to new information. “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says. “Children’s brains seem to be a lot more adept at changing.” 4 Kids may also be more willing than adults to try new things. And while adults tend to fall back on the rules and patterns of their first language, kids are able to approach a new one with a blank slate. Behind the Study 5 For the study, the researchers created an online quiz. It promised to guess people’s native language, dialect, and home country, based on their responses to English grammar questions. At the end of the quiz, people entered their actual native language. They also reported if and when they had learned any other languages and where they had lived. Nearly 670,000 people took the quiz. This gave researchers huge amounts of data from English speakers of many ages and backgrounds. Analyzing people’s responses and grammar mistakes allowed them to draw conclusions about language learning. 6 The findings also offer ideas for adults hoping to pick up a new language. Researchers found that people did better when they learned by immersion rather than only in a classroom. Moving to a place where your chosen language is spoken all the time is the best way for adults to learn. Page 3 GO ON Writing 7 Learners of all ages can search out native speakers in their community to talk with. By creating an immersive environment, it’s possible to become good at speaking a new language. Now that’s worth talking about!