Reply to Fairfax Adding Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES)?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Mandarin, Russian, Arabic. These are lasnguages that matter.   All the rest are a waste of time, esp. French.[/quote]

Russian?  I don't think so.  Less valuable than French.

Mandarin  - yes.  It's ridiculous that FCPS isn't introducing it to elementary school students.  [/quote]

We have Mandarin FLES at our elementary school.[/quote]

I lived in China and my kids started learning Mandarin.  Was frustrated myself when we moved back here and it wasn't available.  But I think saying it's ridiculous FCPS isn't introducing Mandarin to (all?) elementary school students is an overstatement.  Learning Chinese is a life-long endeavour and certainly not for everyone.  While starting with it in lower grades might demystify the characters vs. letters issue and pique some interest, it's naive to think it's going to impart some big advantage.  There are no shortcuts and it will require many years of study and living in China to truly master the language.  FCPS does offer Chinese starting in 8th grade, and although I'm not a big fan of the course, 7th graders can be exposed to Mandarin in Intro to Foreign Languages.

I'm not trying to be a downer, just a realist.  In China, children begin studying English in grade school, but even college graduates can struggle.

As for which languages are most valuable to learn -- it depends what language your kid loves.  Forcing a language on them because it's the "in" thing (Japanese was very "in" in the 1980s), is like forcing a musician to play music they hate the sound of.   Once you learn one language well, it's much easier to learn others.  But if you have a bad first experience you might not make it past that.

I should say, I'm also a language teacher at Berlitz, so I"m not just spouting off here.[/quote]

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