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Why waste time with foreign languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5828 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 9 of 28 24 April 2010 at 2:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I only skimmed it, but I loved the bit at the beginning where someone says probably 80 percent of kids taking
foreign languages in high school only do so because they have to. To which I say, probably 70 percent of kids only go to high school because they have to. Seriously, the fact that kids complain about having to learn something is now a valid reason not to teach it? The whole point of minimum curriculum requirements is that there are some things everyone needs to know wether they want to or not. You can argue about which things belong to that category, but their relative popularity amongst students really isn't relevant. At all. If it were, math would have been made illegal long ago. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 LauraM Pro Member United States Joined 5352 days ago 77 posts - 97 votes Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 28 24 April 2010 at 3:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Now, see, I *have* teenagers (4 of them right now to be exact) and what I see amongst their peers is there are a
surprising number who would/do want to learn a second language, but they already know, high school (and often even college) is NOT the place to do it. I think the article, as a previous poster already stated, made it quite clear: our schools suck at teaching foreign language. Education used to be a privilege in the minds of youth, now they view it as more of a punishment. Compulsory education is a relatively new concept...and there was once a time where 5 year olds would have never been expected to sit still for hours on end and be "fed" information. Previously they were more likely to "seek" information. So, in my opinion, our schools are not set up (for the most part) to inspire and produce independent thinkers, etc. It's a whole 'nother subject but basically, school is usually made to be dull and quite frankly, I'm so glad I'm not of compulsory education age any more. I would have a really hard time learning things where I could not see the relevance... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| NichtGut Groupie United States the-daily-treasure.bRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6332 days ago 65 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 11 of 28 24 April 2010 at 4:15am | IP Logged | ||
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Imagine walking into a highschool classroom in California with some beautiful French/Arabic/Russian/Persian music playing and the teacher greeting the students in a foreign tongue. The students sit down all smiling and laughing while the teacher spills out a strange language the students find entertaining. The class for the remainder of the semester is taught in an Assimil/LingQ/Michel Thomas type fashion and the students fall in love with the foreign language. Language can be beautiful, fun, and useful...and most of the students finish this semester truly feeling that way.
I have taken German, Spanish, and French in highschool and college, so I am very familiar with U.S language instruction. Are the teachers to blame? No, probably not. What can be done? Far too much. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Eze Newbie Canada Joined 5716 days ago 20 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Dutch | Message 12 of 28 24 April 2010 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a young person myself I know that when I was in School (finished in 2007) I HATED French as we all had to take it (and every other class). I would say things like "If only Canada was also colonized by a cool country with a non-shitty language like Japanese or German this would be fun" not to mention school in general was repulsive and I primarily only went to school because I was forced to and to hang out with Friends. It was only many years after not taking French that I saw it is NOT the French language that is the problem but the poor lousy way languages are taught.
While in school my main objective was to just get 50% in the classes so I would never have to take them again and this is how many people in the school thought. Once all the mandatory classes were over with I would take the least-objectionable elective courses so I could do minimal to get my 50% passing grade. It was said above "Seriously, the fact that kids complain about having to learn something is now a valid reason not to teach it? The whole point of minimum curriculum requirements is that there are some things everyone needs to know wether they want to or not. You can argue about which things belong to that category, but their relative popularity amongst students really isn't relevant. At all. If it were, math would have been made illegal long ago. " The bottom line is the vast majority of kids barely remember and dont care about most of what is taught and thats why every September when the new Semester starts its like starting from Grade 9 again (first year high school here in Canada) as everyone forgets during the summer. Not to mention when the weather gets nice about 40-50% of the class doesnt show up to class and by simply looking out the window you can see that entire percentage of people hanging out in front of the school talking having a good time. Personally speaking through interesting content i've researched online I have learned more online than I had ever learned in school (with the fundamentals being the primary exception i.e - speaking, counting etc..) and I enjoy what I do online. I had to take French and took it for 11 years and hardly learned anything. In 2006 I started learning languages on my own and about a week ago I started to learn French. What I know within my week of French study is an easy 10 fold on what 11 years of lousy teaching methods taught me. When I was in High School during grade 9 there was about 6 French classes (all mandatory) and 1 French-Immersion program then after the 9th grade when French was not Mandatory there was only ONE French class per year being the French-Immersion class. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| GREGORG4000 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5523 days ago 307 posts - 479 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French | Message 13 of 28 24 April 2010 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm inclined unfairly against learning the Romance languages just because of how much they're pushed in schools around here >.<
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5703 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 28 24 April 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I also think that School methods are lousy. I'm looking to double minor in two languages but the rest I will be learning on my own. I've neither the time, money and certainly not the paitience to put up with any more of these rote school methods of learning than I had to.
I hate the school based method, but I've spent upwards of 200$ on this doggone Spanish textbook so I WILL be taking three semesters of it. (Thats what the book is made for, 3 semesters of College level Elementary Spanish). After that, I hear that the Spanish classes are much better when you move away from the Elementary Spanish level and thats what I'm counting on, I'll only need 21 more credits of Spanish classes after that. Arabic will also be easy as I will only need 5 classes in Arabic to get the minor so why not? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Silvance5 Groupie United States Joined 5494 days ago 86 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 15 of 28 24 April 2010 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I took a year of Spanish in high school and when I started my college Spanish class, I remembered absolutely nothing. My first semester of Spanish ended last week and I started studying on my own, and I've learned more in this past week than I did during the entirety of my Spanish education.
I'm going to be a Spanish and German teacher, so I may look into programs like Assimil, Pimsleur, and Michel Thomas in order to see what I can adopt into my teaching style. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eze Newbie Canada Joined 5716 days ago 20 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Dutch | Message 16 of 28 24 April 2010 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | ||
The first part of what you said is also what I said, it seems to be wide spread with students who take language in a school. As you mention you will becoming a Spanish and German teacher perhaps this youtube playlist by Professor Arguelles may also help you. It was Professor Arguelles that really helped me in language learning, I owe alot of credit to his videos. Language Course reviews 1 person has voted this message useful |
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