World languages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS comes closest to this in the DC area: For children on the French side of the school, there is total French immersion through kindergarten, then half of all coursework in French (and the other half in English) through the end of 5th grade. Starting in 6th grade, students take language & literature and history & geography in French, with the option to add Mandarin.

I am curious of Mandarin in middle school. Would they be fluent in Mandarin if they take from 6th to 12th? Thanks.

MS and HS language study typically doesn’t result in fluency in any foreign language. You need more submersion for that — either a school language submersion program or an intensive study abroad or living abroad experience. I would imagine fluency in Mandarin purely through academic classes would be even more difficult than for, say, French or Spanish.

That is a pity. How does folks learn English in another country?

The way we typically teach language in the United States is partially responsible for the gap. We’re very worksheet and test heavy, and when we get into the later years we focus excessively on reading literature. When I took language abroad at a language institute the emphasis was entirely on communication, and there was no use of English ever (even at the very beginning) so we were truly immersed.

I feel one problem is is that the world language is not part of the standard testing (e.g. SAT) system. So nobody has the drive to study them well.
Yes, I agree the immersion is the key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is useless.

While Spanish and mandarin are the languages spoken by the most people , French is the language spoken in the most places. Look up the francophonie organization for a map of the francophone world. You'll be surprised ! There is a French school in all countries, and many cities within those countries. There is a French alliance providing cultural resources in most mid to big cities in the US and the rest of the world. I'm french and everywhere I go I find french speakers who aren't necessarily from France. I guess you haven't heard of French mom groups... They're prolific...

Great language to learn.

Love french and the language is so beautiful and so much culture to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS comes closest to this in the DC area: For children on the French side of the school, there is total French immersion through kindergarten, then half of all coursework in French (and the other half in English) through the end of 5th grade. Starting in 6th grade, students take language & literature and history & geography in French, with the option to add Mandarin.

I am curious of Mandarin in middle school. Would they be fluent in Mandarin if they take from 6th to 12th? Thanks.

MS and HS language study typically doesn’t result in fluency in any foreign language. You need more submersion for that — either a school language submersion program or an intensive study abroad or living abroad experience. I would imagine fluency in Mandarin purely through academic classes would be even more difficult than for, say, French or Spanish.

That is a pity. How does folks learn English in another country?

The way we typically teach language in the United States is partially responsible for the gap. We’re very worksheet and test heavy, and when we get into the later years we focus excessively on reading literature. When I took language abroad at a language institute the emphasis was entirely on communication, and there was no use of English ever (even at the very beginning) so we were truly immersed.

I feel one problem is is that the world language is not part of the standard testing (e.g. SAT) system. So nobody has the drive to study them well.
Yes, I agree the immersion is the key.

You might be surprised to learn:

Only eleven states even require high schoolers to fulfill a foreign language requirement. Just 20% of all US high school students take foreign language classes. In contrast, most EU students typically study their home language, English, and one other language from a neighboring country starting in elementary school, NOT 9th grade (roughly two-thirds become multilingual).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS comes closest to this in the DC area: For children on the French side of the school, there is total French immersion through kindergarten, then half of all coursework in French (and the other half in English) through the end of 5th grade. Starting in 6th grade, students take language & literature and history & geography in French, with the option to add Mandarin.

I am curious of Mandarin in middle school. Would they be fluent in Mandarin if they take from 6th to 12th? Thanks.

MS and HS language study typically doesn’t result in fluency in any foreign language. You need more submersion for that — either a school language submersion program or an intensive study abroad or living abroad experience. I would imagine fluency in Mandarin purely through academic classes would be even more difficult than for, say, French or Spanish.

That is a pity. How does folks learn English in another country?

The way we typically teach language in the United States is partially responsible for the gap. We’re very worksheet and test heavy, and when we get into the later years we focus excessively on reading literature. When I took language abroad at a language institute the emphasis was entirely on communication, and there was no use of English ever (even at the very beginning) so we were truly immersed.

I feel one problem is is that the world language is not part of the standard testing (e.g. SAT) system. So nobody has the drive to study them well.
Yes, I agree the immersion is the key.

Only schools that make at least some time for immersion can really say they are enabling foreign language acquisition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS comes closest to this in the DC area: For children on the French side of the school, there is total French immersion through kindergarten, then half of all coursework in French (and the other half in English) through the end of 5th grade. Starting in 6th grade, students take language & literature and history & geography in French, with the option to add Mandarin.

I am curious of Mandarin in middle school. Would they be fluent in Mandarin if they take from 6th to 12th? Thanks.

MS and HS language study typically doesn’t result in fluency in any foreign language. You need more submersion for that — either a school language submersion program or an intensive study abroad or living abroad experience. I would imagine fluency in Mandarin purely through academic classes would be even more difficult than for, say, French or Spanish.

That is a pity. How does folks learn English in another country?

Because English is so dominant as a world language. Kids outside the US are constantly exposed to social media content in English, TV shows in English, songs in English … our kids in the US are only exposed to foreign languages inside the classroom. It’s very hard to become fluent in a language that way.