Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Children should be introduced to a foreign language at a young age
Language is one of the hardest culture barriers to overcome; without a common link people cannot communicate. In March of 2005 it was reported there was 35.2 million immigrants living in the USA. Although nearly 320 million people on earth speak English, other languages have an overwhelmingly higher magnitude: did you know that 266 million speak Spanish, 189 million Bengal, 182 million Hindi and 885 million Mandarin Chinese? With business becoming more and more global every year, I feel that it is very important to introduce foreign language into our schools, and break the barrier that has held many back for so long. Learning a foreign language teaches you that there are often several ways to convey an idea. In the business world, it gives you an astonishing edge in being able to communicate directly with your customer. Incorporating a second language at a young age is vital. Myriam Met National Foreign Language Center writes in her that children as young as 3 can learn a second language. She goes on to say that many studies support her theory; children are better able to learn second languages before they have “mastered” their primary language (http://www.internationaledwa.org/resources/wl/mmet/starting_language_learning.pdf). I believe that Piaget’s cognitive development theory would support this idea because of his concept of sensory stages. I know from experience learning a second language at an older age is very difficult.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree that a foreign language should be introduced to our children in the elementary years. We are a country of public education and in today's world the public is not just english speaking. We should have more diversity exposed to our youth since this is a diverse society. With as many different cultures and ways of life out there how can we still justify not educating our children about them when without preparing them we are surely holding them back from great things.
ReplyDeleteBoth of you make sense but, which language do you propose be secondary? I think we can introduce different cultures to our kids without integrating foreign languages in our public schools. I think trying to make sure that we have enough teachers to teach these languages would add incredible amounts to our schools spending every year and we are already experiencing huge deficits in our school budgets.
ReplyDeleteI understand that there are budget issues in our schools, but just because they have a hard time paying for something does not mean it's not important. i think that if the government can bailout corprate America then they should be able to find a way to support our childrens' education.
ReplyDelete