Jourdan F's List: Second language mandatory in elementary school

• Reading Math Lang. S.S.(x) Sci.   Native English speakers 56 64 64 67 54   Bilingual students 61 73 68 72 62   Bilingual ed. graduates 46 74 59 66 54
• Reading Math Lang
• Native English speakers

• The results appeared on the state's new Standardized Testing and Reporting  (STAR) exam, a multiple-choice test that uses a 99-point scale. Third-graders  who had graduated from bilingual classrooms in San Francisco, for example,  scored 40 percentage points higher in math than their native English-speaking  counterparts. On the language portion, bilingual fourth-graders scored 25 points  higher than the natives. And in reading, eighth-grade bilingual grads outscored  the natives by nine points -- although their reading scores slipped behind in  later grades.

• Similar but less impressive differences showed up in San Jose. There, for  example, fourth-grade bilingual graduates scored 19 points higher than natives  in spelling. In the seventh grade, they outscored the natives by seven points in  math.
• • charts of scores
• Grade 2    Reading Math Lang.   Native English speakers 49 50 47   Bilingual students 58 65 60   Bilingual ed. graduates 75 87 80   .
• Grade 7    Reading Math Lang.   Native English speakers 59 54 61   Bilingual students 59 61 66   Bilingual ed. graduates 55 61 62   .    Grade 8    Reading Math Lang.   Native English speakers 57 53 56   Bilingual students 63 68 65   Bilingual ed. graduates 53 52 54   .    Grade 9    Reading Math Lang. S.S.(x) Sci.   Native English speakers 52 64 60 59 54   Bilingual students 50 67 64 60 56   Bilingual ed. graduates 42 60 58 54 48   .    Grade 10    Reading Math Lang. S.S.(x) Sci.   Native English speakers 47 51 52 54 54   Bilingual students 50 59 58 55 54   Bilingual ed. graduates 37 48 43 42 47   .    Grade 11    Reading Math Lang. S.S.(x) Sci.   Native English speakers 57 60 61 74 59   Bilingual students 52 63 62 74 54   Bilingual ed. graduates 38 53 45 62 44
• Grade 11    Reading Math Lang. S.S.(x) Sci.   Native English speakers 57 60 61 74 59   Bilingual students 52 63 62 74 54   Bilingual ed. graduates 38 53 45 62 44

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• Fairy tales  used in primary schools to teach foreign languages
• Why adults find it hard to learn languages
• 
  Six-year-olds cope with  two languages
• Only a fifth of 15-year-olds now learn a foreign language, a survey published  today shows.
• • Fairy tails to help teach echool lementary students
• • why adults find it hard to learn a second language

• When do pupils in other countries start learning a foreign language?  
     

               

  Age 6	Austria, Norway, Luxembourg
  Age 7	Italy
  Age 8	Spain, Liechtenstein
  Age 9	Greece, France
  Age 10	Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal
  Age 11	Iceland

  
  (TES, 12 May 2000)

• Children as young as six cope well when learning to read and write in two  languages, new research has shown.
• Six-year-olds are highly capable of learning about many different facets of  writing."

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• it easier to learn a foreign language at a younger age, but it also helps  increase progress in academics as well as creative thinking skills.
• Learning languages helps increase listening ability, memory, child’s creativity  and critical thinking- all of which are thinking processes that increase  learning in general,” says Redmond, former president of the National Network for  Early Language  Learning
• children who learn a foreign language at a young age also do better on  standardized tests than children who do not.
• Research shows that children who learn a foreign language at a young age also do  better on standardized tests than children who do not
• Children who have studied a foreign language in elementary school achieve  expected gains and even have higher scores on standardized tests in reading,  language arts and mathematics than those who have not. While learning foreign  languages, children will also gain an understanding of other cultures.
• It is easier to learn  a  language  at a younger age then when an individual is closer to adulthood.
• There is funding available for elementary schools if they choose to apply. For  example, the government has over $6,000,000 that they award each year to fund  elementary school  programs  for teaching foreign languages. There are also volunteer programs where students  attending some universities  work on creating and instructing these programs. These programs can be utilized  at no cost to the schools.

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• A child's brain (until around 10 years of age) has twice as many synapses as an  adults.  During the first 3 years these are created at an astonishing rate
• they are more proficient, and are able to relearn it faster later on in  life.
  

• • Talks about job oppurtunities
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• • Talks about job oppurtunities
    
• • Talks about job oppurtunities
    
• • Some students choose not to because it would be harder to get a good grade, especially compared to other people. If every on takes it second language then the competion level goes down
• • comeback for teacher shortage
• No i don't think schools should teach forign languages  onless the student are going to be doing something in that country that require  speaking that language
• • Unless the students are almost done with high school or are in college then they aren't goinng to know if they are going to need to know whether or not they need to know it or not. Also, it is a lot easier to learn a language at a younger age.

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• North American Spanish isn't the Spanish of Spain, hasn't been for centuries  (has to do with a hare-lipped Spanish crown prince). The French of Toronto isn't  the French of New Orleans and neither is the French of Paris, France.
  
• • They may not be the same french or spanish but i have a feeling that they are very similar. Look and see if they are really different. If not then write "yes, there may be different dialects(or forms or whatever) but they are very similar and even for the words that change they aren't that different (then maybe give example)
• If would be wise for schools to offer vocational "For Retail Sales" courses in  various languages. This is far different from formal read-European-literature  intent of most high school language courses.
• • they need to find qualified teachers to do this
• • If they made learning a second language mandatory in elementary school the children would be a lot more willing to learn it. Also, with kids in elementary, it is a lot more easier to make it fun by using different games with the second language where as with a middle schooler or a high schooler they would probably sit there thinking, "this is so stupid and pointless"

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• Not to government leaders worried about the lack of Chinese or Arabic speakers  in a post-9/11 world. Not to business leaders concerned about America's ability  to compete in the global marketplace. And not to the parents and students who  understand the competitive advantage that knowledge of another language and  culture provides

• "What a lot of Americans remember is language as an academic pursuit," says  Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of  Foreign Languages. "They learned a lot about a language, how to conjugate every  irregular verb. Today, the emphasis is on developing students' communications  skills — what they can do with a language. That's a radical departure."
• "It's no longer a check-off to college admission. It's a tool for  communication."
• Children learn a second language more easily when they are young. As a result,  language immersion programs have increased in elementary schools. In these  classes, children learn the content of subjects such as math or science in the  second language.

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• • Students fluent in two language score higher in both verbal and non-verbal intelligence.
  • Students studying a second language are superior in divergent thinking tasks and in memory ability and attention span.
• Second language students have higher test scores in reading, language and mathematics.
• • Second language education significantly strengthens first language skills in areas of reading, English vocabulary, grammar and communication skills.
  • The earlier the start, the greater the positive effect on the first language.

  • Talks about starting younger
• • Students studying a second language have superior cross-cultural skills and adapt better to varying cultural contexts.
  • Students studying a second language display greater cultural sensitivity.
• There is an urgent requirement for qualified speakers of languages other than English in areas of science, technology, medicine and global commerce.

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