I've been flowing the local papers in my hometown and the debate on starting a foreign language a year earlier; starting it in 8th grade instead of 9th.
When talking about it to my mom, who works for a neighboring school district, she posed two questions, what difference does a year make and in this economy are districts really going to foot for extra teachers? Granted, a year is not that big of a difference, but if you can peak a students interest in an area earlier, why not? The bigger issue should be starting a foreign language in elementary school. I babysit for some children who attend a private school. The nine year old is fluent in French and can hold a conversation in that language-all learning done at school. Neither of her parents speak French. And to argue the second point, being bilingual would make a student stand out in job interviews over another candidate. I understand that the economy is difficult at this time but if starting languages earlier in students education is for their benefit in their future, why wouldn't find ways to make that happen?
My ending comparison was, we teach students to be computer and technology literate at very young ages, which is crucial whether a student pursues their education or goes directly into the workforce. How is integrating language into cirriculum at an earlier age any different?
Where is everyone.....
16 years ago
Well, in Wisconsin, they started teaching language in the earlier elementary grades. It has posed a problem which is slowly dissintegrating. When they posed the idea, not many teachers were able to speak a language well enough to teach it. While there is a possiblity that I have to teach in Wisconsin following student teaching is worrying me. I myself do not know a foreign language. I only know bits and pieces of german and spanish. However, they had specialized teachers to do the foreign language lessons that would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteBut right now, as you said, we are in a horrible economic situation. Hiring or even training teachers to speak and teach a foriegn language would be difficult financially for some schools. And in my case, Im terrified to move back to Wisconsin for fear that I need to be able to teach a language to earlier elementary.
but you gotta start it earlier than 8th. At that point a year is not a big diffrence, I was reading for my Child Deblopment class and the eariler you teach children a langugae the better. The easier it easier it is for students to learn. I think biilingual education should be taught starting around 4th or 5th grade. you are right, it will definetly give the students an edge in the career force
ReplyDeleteI also think that would be a great idea if schools were willing to spend the extra money for that kind of program...I think one should be careful on how early a student should start learning a second language though, because in Kindergarten and first grade, children are learning the primary english language. How early should an elementary student start learning a second language?
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