Across schools in the United States, foreign language classes are most commonly taught at the middle school and high school levels, but research shows that this is not most efficient for learning. On the global scale, foreign languages in other countries are taught to their students in primary grade levels. This gives students more exposure and understanding of the foreign language overall, which is why I believe it should be implemented here. Hudson City School District should give students more opportunity to be taught foreign languages at younger grade levels because it is easier for students to process the language, it can improve brain capability on a greater level and it can give students a glimpse into other cultures at a young age.
Because children’s brains are still developing the most before they turn 18, it is easier to manipulate and teach new things to children than it is to adults. Children are overall able to process information faster allowing them to hold an abundance of knowledge. MIT News recently conducted a study on this showing that it is nearly impossible for people to be fluent in a foreign language the way a native speaker would be if they were not taught by the age of 10. MIT News stated, “The findings are based on an analysis of a grammar quiz taken by nearly 670,000 people, which is by far the largest dataset that anyone has assembled for a study of language-learning ability.” This further demonstrates the accuracy of this study and proves that children are able to understand new languages better than teenagers or adults.
By implementing the study of a foreign language earlier on in life, the brain of people with early foreign language experience will end up developing differently than people without the foreign language experience. Learning a language while your brain is still growing before the age of 18, strongest before the age of 10, your memory, test scores and overall intelligence is more likely to improve. In an article written by reporter Ramin Skibba she stated, “The brain is made up of cells called neurons, which each have a cell body and little branching connections called dendrites. Gray matter refers to how many cell bodies and dendrites there are. Bilingual experience makes gray matter denser, so you have more cells. This is an indication of a healthier brain.” With the addition of just one language at a young age, your brain can absorb more information and your intelligence can advance.
Being taught a language from a different culture can allow children or people of any age to be more interested in that culture. In almost all schools in the United States children are taught to love and accept one another despite any differences they might have. Being taught a foreign language can further help with that as language is a direct pathway into the culture of others and understanding the way a region or group talks contributes to the different customs of others. Understanding the way different cultures and ethnic groups live is overall important for people of all ages, particularly children. Without the aspect of learning a foreign language in children’s lives it can be difficult for children to learn about cultural differences.
Some people may believe that children should focus on English classes and perfect a first language before they learn a second one. Although learning a new language can take up time in a school day, it does not take away from a person’s understanding of their first languages. Learning a new language can actually help adolescents when learning in school, especially with their first language. Across the world, languages share many similarities so being taught a completely new one can help one view and understand English or their first languages better. Different languages can all share different parts of speech and sentence structure so knowing how to find these things in a second language can transfer directly into one’s knowledge of a first language.
Here in the Hudson School District students are given the option to take language in eighth grade where they can choose from French, Spanish, Mandarin, German or Latin. If a student decides to pursue that language, they can go up to the AP level their senior year but if foreign language started earlier students would be able to learn more information about the languages they chose and be able to take more language classes before they got to the AP level. There should be more language opportunities in the district starting at third grade for the classes to be the most beneficial. The talk of foreign language in the Hudson City School District should be more recognized and opportunities should be put in place.
