Is learning French on the way out in American schools?

[lhpartridge]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I wish my D/F students and our counselors would get that message.

Most of my D/F students aren't mature enough to handle learning a foreign language. They cannot deal with studying vocabulary, writing sentences, and speaking on their own.

Too bad we can't start language learning at a younger age. Smaller children are like sponges and do well in immersion environments.

Our district decided years ago that all our students would graduate under the college prep curriculum. I was disciplined many times by administrators for referring the students and their parents to the district's handbook which outlined how they could be moved to the general education curriculum. That diploma track required three fewer credits and no foreign language. I was even reprimanded for telling them that the non-FL track existed.

Every year I have to teach my heart out, stay after school, and offer tutoring to the D/F students , some of whom could not learn a verb conjugation to save their life. I mean that literally and not figuratively. I finally had to break down and rationalize that these were students who had serious undiagnosed learning disabilities that should have been accommodated years ago rather than two weeks before graduation. I passed two students who repeated the class and gave it their all, only to be completely unable to learn any meaningful French at all. For most seniors who fail my class, the district allows them to change their diploma track at the last minute, meaning that all my efforts were to no useful end.

These days the other FL and I bemoan our clear-sightedness at the beginning of the year when we can already predict who will and who won't pass the class. The lack of maturity is only the beginning. The students have no self-management skills whatsoever. They generally speak non-standard English and have been taught English by teachers who do the same. There is very little formal grammar instruction in their English classes that is not tested on the all-important yearly tests. Many of our seniors still haven't passed all four tests and they only have one more administration before the end of the year. Some will not make it, but our school will carry them and their failures on our record because few will come back to try again if they don't pass before graduation ceremonies in May.

I think the main reason that we still offer French is so that the students have an alternative if they can't handle Spanish. The Spanish teacher and I joke that we just swap students after they fail our classes. It's not funny, but gallows humor is necessary for our mental health.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Do many high schools offer French nowadays?

I sure hope not. I can't think of a worse language to waste tax-payer money. Teach Latin or Arabic or Chinese or something useful.

[rodentraiser]

I don't know if this has been brought up yet (haven't read the whole thread), but there are some cities in Canada where French is the dominant language. For those of us in northern states, it might not be a bad idea to learn a few phrases in French. For a vacation, if I had to choose, I'd go to Canada before I'd go to Mexico.

I've taken 6 years of German, a year each of French and Spanish, and taught myself some Russian. Have I ever used any of this when I worked at any job? No. But it sure has helped with crossword puzzles and it's fun to be able to understand a little bit when Russian is spoken in "The Americans".

I think you learn a lot about a lot of different things when you learn a new language. It's not just being able to speak it. It's being able to understand the culture and the people as well. I've never traveled, but I'd be embarrassed to go to another country and not know at least some phrases in the language there.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by lhpartridge

I think the main reason that we still offer French is so that the students have an alternative if they can't handle Spanish. The Spanish teacher and I joke that we just swap students after they fail our classes. It's not funny, but gallows humor is necessary for our mental health.

This is true in my school as well. I teach French and German. If a student fails Spanish or drops at semester because of an F, they often try to take French or sometimes German.

I am honest with the lazy ones (after hearing about them from the Spanish teachers) and tell them that if they were not successful in Spanish, they probably won't be successful in another language unless they change their habits (which never happens).

I guess they think that they can start over with a clean slate. But unfortunately the problems will still crop up because nothing really changed.

The foreign language department has pleaded with our principal to make a policy where their English state testing scores or previous year English grade has to meet a minimum to take a foreign language. It won't ever happen... It's a shame because someone who is below proficient in English will most certainly be below proficient in a foreign language.

Teaching is my passion, but dealing with this kind of mess really kills teaching for me. I'd really love to have students who actually want to learn French and German (it is an elective after all, so students have a choice to be here) instead of those who just take up seats and make life miserable for the other students.

[Jaggy001]

I speak French. Living and working in Geneva it was kinda handy. And my school French was invaluable in giving me a head start. Clients like Rolex or Nestle all speak English of course but 'fixing' the meeting in English during the 'meeting before the meeting' at the coffee machine and which was held in French was always a good idea.