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Where I live, the logical choice would be Spanish. People are paid more here if they speak Spanish and English. But of course, I speak French.
I voted that schools should teach foreign languages because it's good for the brain and honestly learning another language helped my English usage tremendously. I learned about English by learning French.
I did also. I went to private school, and we started learning French in second grade and Latin in third. When I went to college, I chose to take two more years of French rather than Spanish, despite strong suggestions from my college counselors to go the Spanish route. I didn't like feeling pressured to take Spanish just because of where I live. At home, my father and I speak Bengali due to my Indian heritage. When I was a young child, I even learned some Norwegian when I moved to Norway short term.
For those that think learning a foreign language helped them speak English better, in what way exactly? If you had taken an additional 2 years of English wouldn't you be at least as well off? When people suggest Spanish, which dialect? What is useful in Spain is not so useful in South Texas or Mexico. I'm not being snide here, just asking honest questions.
For those that think learning a foreign language helped them speak English better, in what way exactly? If you had taken an additional 2 years of English wouldn't you be at least as well off? When people suggest Spanish, which dialect? What is useful in Spain is not so useful in South Texas or Mexico. I'm not being snide here, just asking honest questions.
In terms of learning a foreign language, it helped me learn English better because it forced me to understand the different aspects of grammar and what they are used for and in which context. Learning more English may help some, but for others it's necessary to step outside of the box and have something totally different to compare to in order to really appreciate the subtleties of English.
As for Spanish, what dialect to learn varies depending on the nationalities of the Spanish-speaking community where you live/work. What's relevant in New York or Miami (mostly Caribbean Spanish) is going to be different to what's relevant in Los Angeles or Houston (mostly Mexican and Central American)
I think it should be optional. Some people just aren't good with languages, they shouldn't be forced to take them. It's not like math/English/history which is at the core of everything.
Not exactly on topic, but regarding the language classes - I recently found out that the high schools around here all teach Latin, yet not one community college around here has any latin classes or programs. This is Chicago metro area. Our child wanted to continue with Latin classes in CC but will not be able to. According to the CCs I contacted no classical languages are taught in any area community colleges. Not sure if this is just an IL thing... because our state is very screwed up!
They have Hindu and portuguese, japanese though...
How ridiculous is this? I have let the h.s. know that they should advise the high schoolers that if they plan on continuing Latin studies, community college will not allow them to. They have to go to a 4 year univ. to do so.
Yes, I feel that language is important, and IF you can, you should take it. But do not make it mandatory.
I am not against foreign language requirements, but my preference would be for the foreign language instruction to begin in kindergarten or early elementary at the least.
For most of my life I have been able to speak both English and German, my mom is from there and I still have relatives living there. My dad was in the army and we were living in Germany when I was in grades 2-4 and went to school on a military base in Mannheim, we had a class called host country language and culture. The schools should not wait until high school to teach foreign languages.
Spelling... now THAT should go back to being mandatory again.
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