¿Su niño habla una segunda lengua? I didn’t think so. You may think for a moment that this question stated in Spanish has no bearing on you, since you are an American and it is a well-known fact that Americans speak English. But is it a fact? As of now the U.S. government has stated no official language for its citizens. Take the approximate population of the United States in 2003 and then compare it to the 82% that actually speak English as their first language.1 In that year there were about 291 million people living in the United States.2 Roughly, that equals out to more than fifty two-million people who do not speak English. Imagine your work place. Statistically within a company that has five hundred employees, there’s bound to be ninety people who use a different language to communicate. What if one of those ninety people were your boss? Even worse, could you fathom not being able to comprehend what the person in charge of payroll was saying? These types of situations could easily present themselves as problems in today’s society. A society in which others are constantly immigrating to the U.S. and us as a nation, are forced to change. To go with the change, I purpose that children should begin learning a second language as a requirement in Elementary school.
As many people are aware, in most High Schools students can opt to take a foreign language class as part of their elective credits. So why make such a big fuss about requiring it in grade school? It is a fact that children are more efficient at learning during their younger years.3 Think about any subject you have studied before. Math, Science, English; they are all based on a strong foundation. You learn the rules for basic Math before you head onto Algebra or Calculus. Knowing how atoms function is a must before you study neurology. Correctly using verbs, adjectives and nouns enable you to write a college level paper. The same goes for learning to speak a new language. The basic rules of speech you can teach to a young child will help them master a second language in years to come. Was learning English so hard for you? You may laugh at that since you cannot remember, but in actuality English is by far one of the most difficult languages to comprehend.
As I observed by living in San Diego for seventeen years, there are numerous “day cares” that provide the chance for your preschool aged child to play and communicate with children who speak a second language. This in most cases allows a child to speak a variety of languages at a young age. There is obviously a demand for this type of daycare, since people are willing to pay a hefty sum for it. What you may be left wondering is why is there such a demand? It may not be blatantly clear for those of us who reside in central Illinois. It’s not too often that we are confronted with someone that does not speak English. Imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who lives in an area that is bustling with a mixture of different cultures, where minorities have almost diminished and the city becomes a melting pot. Would it be possible for you to find a job when you cannot communicate with a decent percentage of your customers?
I doubt there is anyone who would disagree with me on the statement that children should learn a second language in school. Most would agree that education is important and imperative to becoming a functioning member of society. Looking at other Nations, they are far ahead of us in this area considering most Europeans know another language other than their own. So, coming to par with these countries would also serve as more reason to initiate this plan. I believe that money is the main threat to the idea of teaching second languages in elementary schools.
Even without the mention of certain programs, Education funding has always been a major issue for politicians and tax payers. Let me mention to you again the fact that the United States does not have a defined national language, yet we continue to fund programs that teach immigrants English. The ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) is a program that is funded by the government to help those who do not currently speak English.4 Which is not such a bad idea. After all, educating someone in our common language and sending them back out into the world a more enlightened individual could do wonders for society. Yet why must we take the defensive approach? Why do we teach immigrants English? So they in turn can be better linguists than the majority of the United States? Instead, we should empower our young children by exposing them to a second language early on. As for funding there are many programs that encourage schools to offer secondary language classes. The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 provided an incentive to those who offered foreign language classes in elementary schools.5 It stated that schools would be required to teach the second language four days a week for forty-five minutes each class. In return, these schools would receive funding from the federal government.
There are many questions other than funding that arise when talking about second languages in elementary schools. There is already a shortage of teachers in the United States. Where would we find people qualified to teach a second language? In my opinion, I believe that the option of teaching a second language class would interest prospective teachers. Those who are already multilingual might welcome the chance to earn a living by sharing their knowledge with the younger generation.
If in fact elementary schools did start a program to teach a second language, what would become of all the students who surpassed the beginning grade level and missed out on that aspect of their education? That is a question that can be thrown at any school subject. The fact of the matter here is that students already participating in a secondary education have the option of learning another language open to them. Most High Schools and colleges offer such programs. Those who take part in the elementary level classes will be better prepared for their higher educations.
Young children are the future of our nation. That is not disputable. Education should be our countries first priority. As far as teaching children a second language, nothing bad can be said of it. To quote the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, “Most children have the capacity and facility to learn two or more languages. Research suggests there are advantages to being bilingual, such as, linguistic and metalinguistic abilities and cognitive flexibility, such as, concept formation, divergent thinking and general reasoning and verbal abilities.”6 So now I’ll ask you the same question I began with. Does your child speak a second language? While your answer may still be no, I am hoping you now see the importance of teaching a second language at a young age.