Pathways Seen For Acquiring Languages

Article published in Ed Week October 27th, 2010

I have fond memories of learning Spanish from my classroom teacher in first grade. When a new student joined our class who knows very little English, I was excited to be his buddy and show off my Spanish skills. My mother taught many years  in a summer program for students in migrant families. The students were 95% Hispanic, English language learners. I volunteered several years as an assistant, and benefited from multiple opportunities to practice my Spanish. I believe these early experiences with foreign language enabled me to have greater success in learning language skills, especially as I entered a Japanese immersion program as an eighth grader.

The article discusses a national psyche that Americans are typically not good at acquiring new languages. While that is contrary to my personal experience, I tend to believe that statement is fairly accurate by examining foreign language requirements. The Oregon Diploma currently  does not require students to take a foreign language. Many colleges prefer students who have taken a foreign language, but because it is not required for the diploma, the courses offered at many high schools are very limited. In Sheridan, there is only a Spanish I and II class offered. With only one teacher offering these two classes, it's not possible for every student to even have an opportunity to take a class. I find this reality to be very disheartening, and hope foreign language will soon be a requirement when there is more research available to exhibit all the additional benefits of knowing multiple languages.

This article also examines research conducted at the University of Washington and a few other colleges that shows that "students who learn additional languages become more adaptable in other types of language learning too." In a series of experiments done with infants between 6 and 12 months, researchers found that "the auditory and motor regions of the brain start to react more in response to speech as opposed to other sounds." Children at a young age are mapping critical language faster as their brains grow and develop. Elementary school is the ideal place to start teaching foreign language. It could be incorporated into other subjects, and not necessarily need to be a whole new set of curriculum teachers need to learn. As a game challenge in New York City, (discussed in the article), research findings showed that "bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility than monolingual children." If educators are committed to teaching with the brain in mind, then they should incorporate some foreign language into their classroom..