Reply to Has anyone's child become fluent in a language not spoken at home exclusively by learning in middle or high school?

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Reply to "Has anyone's child become fluent in a language not spoken at home exclusively by learning in middle or high school?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This nation is doing its children a great disservice by not starting foreign language until middle school. Our FCPS had foreign language in elementary school, but learning Spanish one day a week is basically like not learning any Spanish at all. Also, I'm going to encourage my kids NOT to take Spanish in middle and high school because it is REALLY HARD. The native speakers take it as (1) an easy A and (2) to actually learn how to write and speak properly in their native language so non-native speakers are at a huge disadvantage.

And don't yell at me about #2, I'm a native speaker of a foreign language and could not write my parents a letter or note, my spelling and written grammar are horrible.[/quote]

What? Kids are not graded on a curve in MS and HS Spanish. Your non-native speakers would only benefit from being in classes with native speakers because it would mean the average level of Spanish spoken in class would be higher, and since immersion is the best way to learn, and this would offer a more immersive experience where your kids could practice their Spanish with native speakers, this would be a wonderful boon for them.

Anyway, most countries don't start daily foreign language for students until middle school. Kids in the EU for instance mostly do not start taking English seriously until they are 11 or 12. Yet many kids in the EU ultimately become fluent or close to fluent in English. Why? Because they they continue to study it into college and beyond, travel and work in English speaking countries, and work in fields where they will encounter English speakers (whether native English speakers or other non-native speakers who are using English as the "universal" language of whatever industry it is). Many kids in the EU get jobs in the tourism industry as teens or in their 20s and this is a great way to practice English language skills without even having to travel.

So you are simply incorrect that the best way to learn a foreign language is to learn it from an early age. Many people don't. The problem in the US is not that foreign language instruction starts too late, it's that most kids don't keep it up through and past high school, and there are too few opportunities in the US to consistently practice a foreign language, because English is so dominant and even non-native speakers are more interested in practicing their English than speaking their native language to Americans trying to develop their skills in Spanish, French, Mandarin or whatever. English speakers are kind of victims of the success of their native language, which reduces opportunities and incentives for developing additional language skills. The problem does not lie in the education system or our academic approach to foreign language, which is pretty standard.[/quote]

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