Foreign Language In High Schools

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-language

Foreign Language, Noun: Any language used in a country other than one’s own; a language that is mostly for cultural insight. In many Middle schools taking a foreign language in does not count towards high school. Our school should allow any student’s credits of taking a foreign language in middle school, count towards high school.

Americans have hidden behind the excuse that everybody important knows English for too long. The United States is the only country in the world where a student can graduate from college without ever having learned a foreign language. Most countries start foreign language instruction at ten years of age or younger. It is time we did something ourselves and stopped letting everyone else do the work. One credit of foreign language instruction should be required in order for graduation from high school in Laramie County School District Number One.

Imagine what Christopher Columbus first said when stepping on American soil. Perhaps he said: “This land holds great promise.” Whatever he said the more fascinating question to ponder centers around what language did he speak, for Christopher Columbus, a multi-linguist, knew Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. So what happened to the diversity of languages in this land of promise? Many foreigners contribute to the melting pot of America, bringing their culture and language, yet American schools continue to teach just one language in today’s society. The heated debate among parents, educators, and politicians over a multilingual education in the United States began in the late nineteenth century. Over the next sixty years many crucial

According to a study by the University of Phoenix Research Institute, “demand for American workers who speak foreign languages- particularly Spanish and Chinese- will rise over the next decade”(“Rising Demand for Bilingual Workers among Employers”). As the United States continues to diversify, being bilingual or multilingual is becoming a key part to be successful in life. A student’s school education, beginning at the first day of kindergarten, is supposed to build and prepare a student for the future, so why is properly learning a new language not a priority from the start? The teaching of a foreign language should begin elementary school because learning at an earlier age is optimum for an easier and effective learning process and provides significant benefits that can last a lifetime.

Although there are approximately 7,097 languages spoken around the world, 75 percent of the United States of America’s population cannot speak a second language. Twenty-eight percent of Americans feel that they do not need to know a second language because everyone they know speaks English or they expect all those they encounter to speak English. Because such a large percentage of Americans are monolingual, they often struggle to communicate with those in foreign countries because they do not know the native languages. This is largely due to the lack of language classes offered through the American school system, and not starting languages early in education. The solution to help close language and cultural barriers for Americans is starting foreign languages earlier in schools around the United States.

Did you know that some high schools are deciding to cut out foreign languages from the required list of classes? Well, they are, and it is a terrible mistake to not take a foreign language in high school because there are so many benefits that students are missing out on. Taking a foreign language in high school should be a required class because learning a second language allows for more job opportunities, better health in older age, and higher scores on verbal and nonverbal tasks.

To begin with, dual-language programs are beneficial because students enrolled in this curriculum excel in the school setting. In particular, dual-language scholars outperform monolinguals in one’s native language. Bilinguals begin to surpass students in English-only programs beginning in the fifth grade (Gándara 2). By high school, dual-language students ultimately dominate monolinguals in reclassification to English-proficiency and English language art scores (Gándara 2). This study reveals that not only are dual language learners perform extremely well on standardized tests, they are rising above those who only have knowledge of their own native language. Another study conducted by Michigan State University in 2013 supports this claim, as

Whether one is confronted by international or non-native English speaking clients or customers, the years of Spanish or other foreign languages studied in high school can shine through, impressing whomever one is confronting. An approach to the four-year foreign language policy should not be to avoid taking it again in college, but rather to better oneself. It is no secret that the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not implement a national foreign language requirement. According to the 2006 General Social Survey, it stated: “Only 25% of American adults self-report speaking a language other than English.” (qtd. in Devlin). In countries such as Germany, Italy, and France, the numbers are more than double of the percentage, revealing a shocking contrast how much the US

America is the boiling pot of the world. It is where people from all over the globe come to either visit short term or decide to take residence long term because of the freedoms that America makes possible due to the Constitution. Because of the vast amounts of immigrants that take refuge here in the states, on would think that many different languages are spoken everywhere in the US on a day to day basis. This, however, is not the case. Though English is understandably the most spoken language in the US, many Americans deem it “unnecessary” to learn any other country’s language. There are many reasons why America should jump on the proverbial bandwagon of bilingual and/or multilingual language learning. Firstly, I will give some background on bilingual education, then I will give my two main reasons that America should require language learning courses starting at a young age, which are that

The United States school systems have tried and still to this day, find ways to help Immigrants to assimilate into the culture and the language of the country. Teachers spend countless hours trying to stay within the curriculum, while teaching English language learners to stay par with their peers who are native to the country. One way to help students assimilate the second language would be to utilize the student’s first language to teach a second language. All the while there are some pros and cons to this approach.

Aprender una lengua extranjera es una parte vital de la educación infantil. Many high school students would look at this statement and accept the fact that they will never be able to understand it without Google Translate. This alone is an issue that must be brought to attention. The ability to comprehend a foreign language such as French, Spanish, or Japanese is a vital skill that high schoolers should acquire. Currently, most competitive colleges call for at least two years of foreign language classes in high school. All colleges should require applicants to study a foreign language because it improves understanding of other cultures, creates better job prospects, and has positive effects on the brain.

“In boxing, they say everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Well, in language learning, we could just as easily say that everyone has the perfect conversation in mind until they speak to a real native.” says Why Language Classes Don’t Work author Tim Ferriss. Communication is not the focus of a foreign language class these days. Memorizing words and short sentences is not a natural function. Taking a foreign class is not effective and it’s outdated because it’s like placing a group of people, who don’t know how to calculate the area of a circle, into a room and seeing how much they know. According to Jay Mathews,“How students still look good on their report cards is easy to explain. Because much of the world is striving to learn English, Americans wonder why they should bother to learn other languages. We talk about the importance of foreign language learning to our national security, but we don’t mean it. If we need speakers of exotic tongues, we import them”.

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

It’s the seventh grade. Next year, the entire class of students would be required in incorporate a foreign language into their curriculum. Would it be Italian, French, Spanish, or German? Most chose Spanish because a majority of upperclassmen thought it was “easy”. For some people, they chose Italian simply because of the fact that most of their family spoke it, and they wanted to be able to interact with them in the way they were most used to. Others in school would pick French because it would help with ballet pronunciations and understandings. But are Italian and French the best second languages to learn for other people? Many may be wondering, “What are the most useful secondary languages I should learn?” English speakers should find a language that is commonly spoken in many countries, and can potentially help them get ahead in the field they desire. One would want to pick a common language, so when faced with interaction with a non English speaker, they can still have and maintain conversations. Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Arabic are the most useful second languages to learn because they are commonly spoken around the world, can be learned relatively easily, can help to land people jobs, and can provide insight among a variety of cultures.