03-10-2017, 09:22 PM
Quote:Oh I agree. I think that stuff is well-meaning, it comes from concerns about Latino immigrant children keeping up academically, but in the long run it hurts integration.
Agreed. It's misguided, Hispanic children already score higher than, say, native-born black children on standardized tests, and learning languages by immersion is not that difficult, especially for small children. I know, I was dropped in a Dutch-speaking school when I was 6, and I managed.
Quote:On a related note, I think the way we generally teach foreign languages in this country sucks. If we want Americans to have better proficiency with other languages it has to start at an earlier age than high school.
It's easier once you learn your first one, whatever it is. I have seen some good studies suggesting that you could teach Esperanto, which is supposed to be extremely simple to learn, to elementary school children, then start teaching a third language in middle school/high school, and have them learn the third one better than if you taught them just one from the beginning.
❝Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.❞
‒Johann Wolfgang von Goethe