Thursday, July 23, 2009
Becoming Bilingual
Does anyone ever feel like we are missing out on so many opportunities by having most language classes not begin until high school? Think about how easy it is to acquire language when you're in elementary school. I've spent 6 years trying to get to where I am right now, and I often think about how many other languages I would be able to speak if I had exposure earlier on. When I first decided that I wanted to become a spanish teacher, I thought it would be fun to teach at an elementary immersion school. While there are increasingly more schools like this, I found that if I wanted to have more job security I would have to teach at the higher level. In all practicality, I am very pleased with the decision that I've made. I just wish that there were more language programs in elementary schools. That said, I am so excited to educated at the level where I can push my students to examine the language and culture they are learning!
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Kendra,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely! My first language was Armenian and I spoke English only after being "immersed" in kindergarten. Now I'm thankful that I learned that language and also found it was easier to pick up other languages later in life. I wish I had started to learn French or Spanish in elementary school.
By the way, I enjoyed your Spanish teach presentation in reform class!
Absolutely! I don't feel like it's possible for me to ever become "bilingual" because I will never achieve the proficiency in Spanish that I have in English, simply because I started too late!
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of being a little cyncial, we just don't (yet!) take foreign language study seriously here in the US...maybe the "shrinking" world will force us to do so. In the meantime, you might want to think about visiting the "FLICS" foreign language immersion school in Detroit this fall. You might find it interesting to see a public school attempting to take second language instruction more seriously. They don't have much of a web presence, but here's a link to a little more information.
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