"Reverse the decline in language education"

           I wanted to again find an article from this week that related to both technology and ESL, but I am afraid I did not find too much in those combined fields.  Instead, I managed to find an interesting article about how to reverse the decline in language education in the United States.  This opinion article from the Editorial Board of the Herald Sun, present data to suggest that learning languages other than English is taking a downturn and has been for decades.  As the world is becoming “smaller” with the help of technology and global partnerships in business, people from the US may be at a disadvantage if the partners do not speak English as the lingua franca.  

            The article states that from 75% in 1998 to 58% in 2008, there has a been a decline in the number of middle schools offering another language other than English and a 6% decline in elementary schools as well (Editorial Board, 2017).  The article continues to report that only 15% of elementary schools actually offer a second language course with 50% of private elementary schools offering them (Editorial Board, 2017).  The article presents some staggering information when the US is compared to other countries’ language programs too.  Two-thirds of all European adults make the claim to be able to speak a second language to some extent, while only 20% of Americans can say the same (Editorial Board, 2017).  And though the populations of the US and China are quite different in size, the amount of US students taking Mandarin compared to Chinese students taking English are very different.  The article contends that is 200,000 US students compared to 300-400 million Chinese students.  But are these differences in language competencies and course offerings because English is often indeed used as the lingua franca or is it that language skills other than English are not found on state assessments?  The Editorial Board (2017) suggest that US educators and political leaders push to promote more language learning through the creation of more courses and the hiring of more teachers.  They believe language proficiency will allow more people to get along with each other and for America to get ahead in the global market.  

            I first started my foreign language learning with Spanish in 6^th grade.  I never had any background in school before and I honestly do not remember it ever being offered any earlier than middle school.  Though I had great teachers, I just could not get into it during that time in my life.  Perhaps my other subjects like Math, Language Arts, and Science were more at the top of my mind at that point.  I often wish I could go back in time and involve myself more with learning the language.  Perhaps that is what I’m doing now as now language learning is at the top of my mind.  At my school where I teach now, we do offer several languages as early as kindergarten and first grade I believe like Spanish, Mandarin, etc.  Though these are online courses, we do have a Spanish teacher on staff for elementary and middle school students to get LiveLessons and real-time content.  I agree with the article though, we need more language teachers like her.  One is not enough.  I’m sure as my school expands and grows that will be something on my administrations to-do list.  

References

Board, T. E. (2017, July 13). Reverse the decline in language education. Retrieved from http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article161131128.html