“Language and communication are the heart of the human experience.” I believe it is imperative that the teaching of a foreign language should be a requirement in our child’s curriculum and implemented starting in primary schools. The United States has a responsibility to provide all students with the skill set to expand and sustain proficiency in English and facilitate the teaching another language. Children who enroll in English-speaking schools from non-English-speaking backgrounds should also be given the opportunity to be further educated in their native language. I will discuss why it is vital to our children to have access to foreign language studies and why it should be integrated throughout their PK-12 academic experience.
We grant our children with the tools to succeed in the 21st Century with the edification of supplementary languages and the insight of other cultures. This is essential for “American students as they prepare to live and work in a global society.”(According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) learning a second language will facilitate communication with those from other cultures. It will allow those to look beyond their customary borders and develop insight into their own language and culture. It will enable those to act with a greater awareness of one self, of other cultures, and their own relationship to those cultures. This will expand their knowledge, and will enable those to participate more fully in the global community and marketplace. Regardless of the career students choose to pursue, they will be amalgamated with others from around the globe on a regular basis and doing business locally with those whose native language is not English. Language education cultivates and enhances basic communication skills and higher order thinking skills. It has a positive effect on intellectual growth. It leaves students with more flexibility in thinking, greater sensitivity to language, and a better ear for listening in turn increasing job opportunities and performances especially since diversity and teamwork is a growing focus of many organizations.
