Assignment 16: Megan Meadors

Si je parle en français, c’est possible que tu n’as pas aucune idée qu’est-ce que je dis. Mais si je parle en anglais, tu peux comprendre.

Now, if you didn’t understand what I just said, that’s okay. Most people in this room probably don’t. To clarify, what I just said was “If I speak in French, it’s possible that you have no idea what I’m saying. But if I speak in English, you can understand. Though it wasn’t perfect, it’s a start, and learning the language is half the struggle.

That struggle is faced by high school students every day who fight their way through passing two years of a foreign language. But why is this the end goal? There’s so many things you can do with a foreign language. First of all, it allows you to communicate with other people who don’t speak English but that’s the obvious reason. Why not strive to succeed in today’s global society? And that brings me to the matter at hand. Why don’t we put more emphasis on bilingualism? Today I am going to explain how speaking multiple languages is important to society, how we can learn languages better at a younger age, and why we should foster the ability to speak multiple languages.

First, the importance of bilingualism. Now, just so everyone is on the same page, a person who is bilingual is a person who can speak two languages. And no, I’m not bilingual exactly, but I am working on learning French. I’m currently in Francais Avance (or AP French) meaning I am at the highest level of French offered at Henry Clay. This is crazy! Not only that I’m in the highest level of French but that this is the highest level of French offered in High school. This can be compared to a French 301 college course, which are typically aimed towards learning about society and culture through events, figures, monuments, laws, texts, religion, marriage, sexuality, and identities.

But this being the highest level shows just how little we learn of a language before we graduate. This isn’t exactly a good thing though. It is projected that by the year 2025, 1/3 of our public school kids won’t speak English when they start kindergarten. With most children not beginning to learn a foreign language until late middle school or early high school, there is an emphasis on learning all in English. But that only makes it harder for students who don’t speak English when they start school. They then must learn English quickly and catch up to their peers through ESL or English Second Language programs. Though it is difficult, these students will eventually catch up and they often perform better in English than in their native or home language.

That might sound weird, being better at a language you learn through school than the language you speak at home, but this a reality for some children. Though they are fluent in speaking their native tongue, some lack the ability to read or write in this language. But there are more ways to learn a language than just sitting in a classroom.

And this brings me to my second topic: How we can teach languages better starting at a younger age. Having French for one hour each day starting in high school isn’t as effective as other methods. Immersion programs are an amazing way to introduce children to a language. Imagine this: Walking into a classroom on your first day of kindergarten and your teacher welcomes the class. « Bonjour à tous! Bienvenue à votre premier jour en ma classe! Je m’appelle Madame Meadors. J’espère que vous passez bien l’été ! Cette année, vous commencez avec votre éducation en français! » Now, you’re six years old and you’re already terrified of your first day of school. You look around at all the other kids in your class wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into.

          For anyone who doesn’t speak French, you’re in the same situation as this child. But for those of us who do, it’s possible that you can understand what I said but maybe you’re not able to reply, and that’s okay. And this brings me to my next point: Why we should foster speaking two languages. In today’s global society, there are more interactions between companies and different countries. This means that a language barrier would be even more prevalent than just in normal day to day life. With the rest of the world learning multiple languages, the likelihood of the other party speaking English is fairly high, but why are we depending upon that?

Back in the classroom of confused six year olds, the teacher continues: « Je vais expliquer les règles de ma classe. Quand vous entrez la salle de classe, vous mettez les sacs à dos a cote de la mur. » The next thing you know, your teacher who is speaking a completely different language is pointing at you and you have no idea what she just said. She says your name and gestures for you to come to her. You stand and then she points at your backpack. Confused, you just stand there staring blankly at your teacher and looking to your classmates for help. Your teacher then walks over, points at your backpack and says something. You then nod, because we all know that’s what you do in a situation where you didn’t understand someone. She then picks up your backpack and hands it to you.

Wait! She just asked if that’s your backpack! Beaming with happiness that you might have understood something she said, you end up following the teacher because she gestured for you to follow her. The aha moment quickly passes when she starts talking and you’re confused all over again, but you finally learned something!

Even though this style of learning is becoming more prevalent in society, some parents and teachers believe that learning two languages at the same time will lengthen the amount of time it will take for a child to master each language. But this is actually one of the best ways to learn a language – as long as you start young. Just like when you are a baby, learning languages comes naturally. Your brain begins to associate sounds and words with different objects as you learn them. In a study of monolingual versus bilingual babies, it was found that when listening to a string of syllables specific to both English and Spanish, the monolingual baby who was surrounded by English specialized in processing syllables in English while the bilingual baby was specialized in processing both English and Spanish syllables. Using these skills starting when you’re younger is extremely beneficial. In a study by Monika Schmid, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Essex, she found that adults who are learning a second language often pick up on complex grammar rules while forgetting the simple and more common rules while children often have a much easier time picking up on these grammar rules, showing just how important it is to start early when learning a foreign language.             

          In conclusion, it is important to our society that we place a heightened importance on learning foreign languages, begin learning foreign languages at a younger age, and foster the ability to speak multiple languages. If we start learning languages young and implement more programs, such as the immersion program I discussed earlier, then we can become better global citizens. With the youth in today’s society starting young and learning more languages then we as a country can become more competitive in today’s global society. 

Bibliography

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Ramirez, Naja Ferjan. “Why the Baby Brain Can Learn Two Languages at the Same Time.” The Conversation, 15 Apr. 2016, theconversation.com/why-the-baby-brain-can-learn-two-languages-at-the-same-time-57470.

Schmid, Monika. “The Best Age to Learn a Second Language.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 8 Feb. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/news/education/the-best-age-to-learn-a-second-language-a6860886.html.

 “The Benefits of a Bilingual Brain”. Performance by Mia Nacamuili, The Benefits of a Bilingual Brain, TEDEd, 23 June 2017, ed.ted.com/lessons/how-speaking-multiple-languages-benefits-the-brain-mia-nacamulli#review.