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When I was in 1st & 2nd grade, we were taught French-well, I should say that we were introduced to French. We had a lesson once a week and basically we learned a few French songs. I did go to another school where they taught French to a few chosen kids-but I wasn't one of them which I was very upset with. Then they taught German to those same few chosen kids. I was VERY upset not to be one of the chosen.
By the time I got to high school where I could take French, by that time, I had a hard time learning pronunciation. (I have a hard enough time with the pronunciation of many English words. lol) I continued with French in college but had the same problem. If I was taught from the start, I would be pretty much fluent but as of now, I could barely get around in Montreal. (Good thing most of them speak English.)
The funny thing with my love for the French language, I married a man of Puerto Rican decent and we have a vacation home in Puerto Rico. And now, I am totally lost with the Spanish language. It is a good thing that my husband & sister-in-law (who lives in PR) can speak it and act as interpreter for me. But, my SIL always reminds me that they know how to speak English.
But, I can read both languages better than I can speak them. When we bought our house, I was reading over the deed (in Spanish) and understood most of it. There may have been a few words that I couldn't make out and asked for assistance but for the most part, I got.
They've actually found that learning two languages as a child makes the child grasp the syntax and grammar rules of either language at a much slower pace than they would just learning one. With so many people in this country who already seem to struggle with grammar and spelling as is, I'd hate to see any measures put in place that would exacerbate that problem.
That said, the psychology and linguistics studies I'm talking about were measuring infants and very young children, not school-aged ones. And I think that since the societies of the world are becoming increasingly globalized and interconnected, being multilingual will give a person a clear advantage now and in the future. So, there's no denying that learning a foreign language is critical.
Totally agree with malamute, though, that we need to prioritize placing a greater emphasis on math and science in our grade schools than on foreign languages - although both are important.
Another vote for learning a second language, preferably Spanish. It's a huge advantage in today's world to be bilingual. Mandarin would also be a good choice.
Students in my building start in first grade. Math and science is taught in the immersion language. Not all buildings have an immersion program but the district offers French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
I live in California, and I took French (as opposed to Spanish) in high school, and it doesn't appear to be hurting me much. After all, most of the people here who speak Spanish also speak English (at least to some degree).
I'm in NY and took French in HS. I really wish I went the Spanish route. I don't hire day laborers but when you hire contractors they hire whoever they have and I do wish I knew what they were saying sometimes. Many other benefits but that one comes up the most often for me. French has been absolutely useless to me the last 20 years. So it really depends on your area of the US... and of course Spanish will beat French every time. Unless you are near eastern Canada of course.
were a Greek family so my sons spoke Greek before English.
of course we all had Spanish in school, me included.
so I guess we are a tri-lingual fmily...
who said to learn mandarin, yeah, I can see how often we would speak mandarin. LOL, OMG, your kidding....??????
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Should kids start learning a foreign language in grade school instead of HS?
