Search Results for: blog something to talk about foreign languages in american schools

Los Amigos Bilingual Program

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Valorie has discussed the benefits of teaching a second language to your children. As she stated in previous blogs, the earlier a child begins to learn a second language the easier it is. In most cases, public schools do not begin to teach languages other than English until high school. Knowing the importance and advantage to being bilingual, one school district decided to act upon it. In 1998 Palmdale School District in Los Angeles began a program that taught students in English for half of the time and in Spanish the other half of the time. School officials began visiting … Continue reading →

Are English Language Only Laws Really Helpful?

For those of you who are not familiar with English Language Only Laws, it is a hot button in bi-lingual education. Should children whose primary language is not English, be required to speak only English not just in class, but anywhere on school property? The law includes time on the playground, time at lunch, and during after school programs. A student cannot ask questions in Spanish nor can his teacher’s translate for him, nor can they have Spanish/English materials in their classrooms (think of those number lines that have “one” on top and “uno” on the bottom.) On the outset, … Continue reading →

10 Good Reasons for Foreign Languages

I’ll come right out at the very beginning and admit my bias: I am a polyglot. I speak 2 other languages fluently besides English. I am in the very slow process of learning Mandarin Chinese from my babysitter. (Who, by the way, as a homeschooler taught herself how to speak Chinese while she was in high school.) To be honest, if I could, I would likely go back to school and study more foreign language. So it is a given that with all this foreign language swirling around our house, teaching a foreign language would be a given in our … Continue reading →