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Old 10-15-2014, 05:39 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc View Post
Why not? We live in a global economy. Many children all over the world speak more than one language. It can also be much easier to learn another language at a younger age, so why wait? They still learn "the basics". They still learn how to read and write. Our students have language arts and social studies in English.

What do you consider extra? Should they not have art? Music? Strings?

My kids have been in school for 6 years and they're still struggling with reading and writing in one language.

Bravo to those who are learning 'extra'...they tried teaching the Chinese language to the GT kids once a week. The program was canceled after one year.
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Old 10-15-2014, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Suburbia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by negativenancy View Post
My kids have been in school for 6 years and they're still struggling with reading and writing in one language.

Bravo to those who are learning 'extra'...they tried teaching the Chinese language to the GT kids once a week. The program was canceled after one year.
Once a week probably isn't enough.
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Old 10-17-2014, 05:54 AM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc View Post
Why not? We live in a global economy. Many children all over the world speak more than one language. It can also be much easier to learn another language at a younger age, so why wait? They still learn "the basics". They still learn how to read and write. Our students have language arts and social studies in English.

What do you consider extra? Should they not have art? Music? Strings?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lhpartridge View Post
Learning a language while very young takes advantage of the neural plasticity in the brains of young children. Why not teach the students at the stage in life where they are most likely to learn most efficiently?
Children may be able to "learn" a foreign language while in school, but unless they use it regularly and consistently they won't retain all that information. A high school graduate who started learning Spanish in elementary school but never spoke it outside the context of class is no better prepared to participate in a "global economy" than an adult who learns it via continuing ed.

Just because you could find the bathroom and the library in Barcelona doesn't mean you could survive a business meeting.
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Old 10-17-2014, 11:31 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace_TX View Post
why on earth would elementary school kids need foreign language

elementary is a place where kids learn to read write and get a grasp on the basics

foreign language classes is generally an elective and is not required until high school
Because many European languages are closely-related to English, learning another language can help build vocabulary concepts and word families. Additionally, learning another language can help students think about the structure of languages in general and correct grammar for English specifically.
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Old 10-17-2014, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
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Originally Posted by Clevelander17 View Post
Because many European languages are closely-related to English, learning another language can help build vocabulary concepts and word families. Additionally, learning another language can help students think about the structure of languages in general and correct grammar for English specifically.
This is the BEST reason for kids to study languages. I became a better write in English after studying Spanish so intensively.
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Old 10-17-2014, 02:56 PM
 
Location: Suburbia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life View Post
Children may be able to "learn" a foreign language while in school, but unless they use it regularly and consistently they won't retain all that information. A high school graduate who started learning Spanish in elementary school but never spoke it outside the context of class is no better prepared to participate in a "global economy" than an adult who learns it via continuing ed.

Just because you could find the bathroom and the library in Barcelona doesn't mean you could survive a business meeting.
They start in first grade. All of their math and science instruction is in the language. A student who spends half of his/her school day listening to and speaking a foreign language uses the language quite regularly and consistently by the time they reach 5th and 6th grades (the end of our elementary school grades). They are hearing and speaking the target language almost as much as English during the school day. These elementary students aren't learning word by word from a book and can hold a conversation with diplomats who visit from another country. I've seen them do it and trust me, the diplomats did not simply ask the students, "Where is the bathroom?" or "Do you have a library?".
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Old 10-17-2014, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc View Post
They start in first grade. All of their math and science instruction is in the language. A student who spends half of his/her school day listening to and speaking a foreign language uses the language quite regularly and consistently by the time they reach 5th and 6th grades (the end of our elementary school grades). They are hearing and speaking the target language almost as much as English during the school day. These elementary students aren't learning word by word from a book and can hold a conversation with diplomats who visit from another country. I've seen them do it and trust me, the diplomats did not simply ask the students, "Where is the bathroom?" or "Do you have a library?".
Immersion is completely different from what most public schools that offer foreign language in elementary do, which is one class a few times per week.
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Old 10-17-2014, 05:37 PM
 
3,281 posts, read 6,255,020 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc View Post
They start in first grade. All of their math and science instruction is in the language. A student who spends half of his/her school day listening to and speaking a foreign language uses the language quite regularly and consistently by the time they reach 5th and 6th grades (the end of our elementary school grades). They are hearing and speaking the target language almost as much as English during the school day. These elementary students aren't learning word by word from a book and can hold a conversation with diplomats who visit from another country. I've seen them do it and trust me, the diplomats did not simply ask the students, "Where is the bathroom?" or "Do you have a library?".
I've heard of schools doing this before. Oftentimes it seems to happen in diverse communities with large proportions of Hispanic families and families of other ethnicities with part of the instructional day being in English and part being in Spanish.
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Old 10-17-2014, 06:06 PM
 
Location: Suburbia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clevelander17 View Post
I've heard of schools doing this before. Oftentimes it seems to happen in diverse communities with large proportions of Hispanic families and families of other ethnicities with part of the instructional day being in English and part being in Spanish.
That could be. In our case the language immersion isn't Spanish and the school has a population of about 71% listed as "white". It's not very diverse.

Our district offers French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Korean immersion in elementary schools.
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Old 10-17-2014, 08:41 PM
 
Location: Duluth, Minnesota, USA
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Teaching of foreign languages (and classical languages!) is not a part of elementary school curriculum in most districts. Excepting immersion programs, charter schools, and private academies, I would say it is very rare for most elementary schools to offer such classes.

One of the reasons is there is a limited base of teachers who have working knowledge of two or more languages., and in the earlier years one spends much more time with their teacher than multiple teachers. Obviously, language learning is a part of the high school / college curriculum, but the only thing most who have been "out of the loop" for 10 or 20 years is "where is the bathroom?" or "one more beer, please?", usually in Spanish, learned specifically for their trip to Cancun.
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