Where I See the Issue in the Future

With the recent decline in the percentage of foreign language programs in the elementary education setting in the past decade, I see it declining more for the next few years. However, I think that the nation will finally recognize the globalization of our nation as a whole and then gradually start progressing towards a more unified world. It may take some drastic events, such as war, though for our nation to heed the call of the need for more bilingual or multilingual speakers. Every year, the expansion of foreign business relations is creating an even greater need for bilingual speakers. With this need, I believe that people will start teaching their children foreign languages at an early age, so that they are better equipped for the future. Most jobs in the future will probably require the skills of speaking multiple languages. The need will also grow with more foreign people immigrating to the US. This will cause a need for a way to communicate with these people.  

More Ways to Get Your Children Interested in Different Languages/Cultures

 Animes - animes are Japanese cartoons (some of which are adapted from mangas). Animes can vary in genre types just like American cartoons. Did you know that your child may already be watching an anime? Like Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Digimon, Yu-gi-oh, Inuyasha, etc. These animes have been English dubbed, though so that they can be aired on our networks. Just have your children watch the English subbed versions so that they will be hearing the characters speak in Japanese and they will have to read English subtitles. Many animes that you can buy at your local stores have both the subbed and dubbed versions on the DVDs.  
Mangas - Mangas are Japanese comics. Mangas are typically the length of a graphic novel and not the length of your ordinary comics from the Sunday newspaper. Although, they will be in English, the manga will be a nice introduction to Japanese culture. Fun Fact about mangas: They're read backwards from our traditional books. Manga/Anime characters are even a lot of fun to draw. 
 
Music - whether you allow your child to listen to the traditional or modern music of the culture, it'll still be an amazing experience. For instance, lately, I've found myself on a huge Korean and Japanese Pop music kick. Because I can't speak the language, I just look up the lyrics for the songs. This can also work for you and your children.
Restaurants - take your children to cultural restaurants. Let them experience their different foods. Just be aware of any food allergies so that you can make sure that none of the foods are made with the specific allergen. If you go to an Asian restaurant, eat with chopsticks. This is a fundamental in Asian cultures.
Other options: Art, Foreign Language Programs for kids, festivals, dances, Theater, etc.

Funding A Foreign Language Program

One of the biggest worries with a foreign language program is funding. Funding is one of the most monumental components of a successful foreign language program or any other funding. Without funding, a program is non-existent. There are multiple options out there for school programs, so don't worry. Here are a few of the examples:

• State/Federal funding - Go to you're local state government and ask about funding. Some grants though, such as the Foreign Language Assistance Program funds have been cut in a recent proposal made by the House of Representatives. (To fight this please, speak to your local Senate). So, be aware that some of these grants are no longer available.
• School Board Funding - Go to you're school districts Board of Education and ask about funding. 
• Local Businesses - some local businesses may be willing to sponsor/fund the foreign language program. This would probably be more likely with businesses that do business with foreign countries.
• Foreign Governments - some foreign governments fund schools for programs that are targeted in their language in the hopes of globalization and future prospects in foreign business relations. For example, the Chinese government has sent over teachers to teach Mandarin courses. The Chinese government helps pay for part of the teacher's salary as well as their living expenses.
• Fundraisers - hold fundraisers for the program. Make people aware of the issue as well as your purpose for having the program. You can hold fundraisers such as a festival that is dedicated to the foreign language that is chosen by the school district. The festival could be like those that you find in that country. So have fun with it. You could even have bake sales, car washes, candy sales, etc.

Foreign Language Programs Statistics

There have been numerous elementary school districts that have recognized the call for bilingual and multilingual people in today's globalizing nation. Some of the schools programs are total immersion classes (definition of which is in the previous blog). These schools may offer anywhere from one - three different foreign languages or more to their students. Here is some information on foreign language programs, such as statistics on the percent of foreign language programs in elementary schools in the U.S.

• In 2008, only 25% of the elementary schools in the U.S. offered any foreign language programs, whereas, in 1997, the percentage of foreign language programs in elementary schools was 31 percent. 
• Only half of all American high school students have even taken one year of a foreign language.
• Foreign language programs are less available in urban schools than in suburban or private schools.
• For the past 50 years, the foreign language choices available in schools have for the most part have been the same commonly taught European languages. 
• The learning of a foreign language is a higher priority in other countries, such as, Japan, South Korea, China, Africa, etc, than it is in the U.S. 
• It is said that twenty out of the twenty-five industrialized countries start teaching foreign languages in grades K-5.
• Twenty-one of thirty-one European Union countries require students to take nine years of foreign language study.
• If you look in the very first blog on my post (Mandarin as a second language?)  there will be information on various schools with Mandarin programs. These programs have sought out the need for Mandarin speakers due to the growing business relations with China.

Program Types and Scheduling

There are different program types to utilize for a foreign language program. Each program is set up with different goals in mind as well as each requiring different things. The program types are total immersion, two-way immersion, partial immersion, content-based/content-enriched FLES, and FLES programs.

• Total Immersion programs are programs in which 50-100% of class time is spent learning subject matter taught in the targeted foreign language. It's goals are for students to become functionally proficient in language, master subject content, and to acquire an understanding of other cultures.
• Two-Way Immersion are programs that spend at least 50% of the time learning subject matter taught in the targeted language. The class includes students that are native English speakers as well as students whom are native speakers of the targeted foreign language. This class is set up so that students whom don't speak English can learn by interaction with the students whom speak English and vice versa. The goals of the program are for students to become functionally proficient in targeted language, master subject content, and to acquire an understanding of other cultures.
• Partial Immersion programs spend approximately 50% of the time learning subject matter taught in the targeted language. The goals of the program are the same as total immersion, just at a lesser extent.
• Content-Based FLES programs spend approximately 15-50% of the time learning subject matter taught in the the targeted language. The goals of the program are for students to acquire proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the targeted language; to use subject content as basis for foreign language skills, and to acquire an understanding of other cultures.
• FLES programs spend approximately 10-20% of the time learning subject matter taught in the targeted language. These programs require a minimum of 30-40 minutes per class, 3-5 days every week. The goals of the program are the same as Content-Based FLES programs, except the goals for reading and writing are less due to the limited time allotted.

The next step to decide on is how to schedule the class. After deciding which program is needed, you'll  need to decide which type of scheduling will work best with it. There are different scheduling options:

•  Traditional scheduling - will allow for 40-55 minute classes
• Block scheduling - allows for class periods to be longer than those of traditional scheduling classes
• Intensive programs - are a formal instructional program that provides more than one hour per day of exposure to the targeted language
• Immersion programs - are programs that offer more than four hours of instruction in the targeted language.This includes total immersion, where 100% of the subject matter is taught in the target language, and partial immersion, where at least 50% of the subject matter is taught in the target language.
• Multilevel classes - this will help with conflicts, such as shortage on teachers, timing conflicts, and a low enrollment in the program. Multilevel classes combine students from different instructional levels into one classroom.

Why Some Schools May Not Have a Foreign Language Program

Some schools may not have a foreign language program installed in their curriculum for multiple reasons and each schools' reasons may be different from the other. If you've ever wondered why there isn't any foreign language in your child's school district it may be any of the following:

1. Lack of interest - The school may have tried to have a program before, but there wasn't enough interest in the courses. The lack of students in a course, will lead to the eventual dropping of it from the school's curriculum. Or if they were trying to get a program started, there wasn't enough interest from students, faculty, or parents to get the program installed into the curriculum.

2. Lack of funding - A school may not have the available funds to operate a foreign language program. They also may have lost funding for the program if they previously had one. One major key to a foreign language program is to have diverse funding.

3. Lack of teachers - It may be hard for the school district to find a teacher to teach a foreign language or they may not be able to find a teacher that is willing to stay for a set amount of time to teach.

4. Lack of time - School curriculum throughout the years has become more intense. This leads to the problem of teachers barely being able to find the time in the year to teach the required curriculum that is set by the state as well as county. This situation doesn't allow for any extra time to be allotted towards extra curriculum such as foreign languages or more extensive art classes. For instance, Robin Tempelton, a first grade teacher at Arthur I. Boreman Elementary School in Middlebourne, West Virginia, is required to teach the following during the year: “90 minutes of reading, which includes 30 minutes of response to intervention, as well as spelling and phonics; 90 minutes for handwriting sentence structure, and paragraph writing; 35 minutes for music and PE; 15 minutes for calendar time; 30 minutes for recess; and 1 hour for Lexia (computer reading program mandated by the state), reading lessons, math lessons, and Tech steps (state mandated) every week to be taught in the computer lab.” So her class is in lab for 2 ½ hours on Friday afternoons.

5.  Lack of knowledge - Some schools don't have enough information on foreign language programs. They may not know where to go to get a program started, how to get funding for one, or how to get people interested in the matter.

Brain Research

As we all know, the brain is a complex organ that controls the functions of our bodies as well as our thoughts. Many studies have been done to see just how the brain works. But with the brain being so complex there is only so much we can learn. One of the many topics of research studies on the brain is that of the effects of foreign languages in children. This post will be dedicated to giving facts that were found out through brain studies and facts about the brain.


Facts about the brain:
1. When a child is born, they have over 100 billion neurons (brain cells), this is enough to last a lifetime due to there won't be anymore neurons developed after birth. Neurons form synapses, connections, which create the wiring of the brain.

2. When an infant is eight months old they can have 1,000 trillion synapses. Yet by age ten the synapse count decreases to around 500 trillion. The number of synapses is determined by the child's early experiences and learning. The number of synapses is likely to decrease by as much as 25 percent. 

3. If a child doesn't use specific connections or pathways in the brain, they will be lost. This is why people often say "use it or lose it" about the brain. The connections that are used, however, can become stronger due to the brain discarding inactive connections.




4. When an infant is three months old, his brain is capable of distinguishing several hundred different spoken sounds. The brain will organize itself, over the next few months, more efficiently so that it will only recognize the sounds that are part of the language that they regularly hear. The brain is able to retain the ability to relearn sounds it has discarded, during early childhood, so young children typically learn new languages easily.

Some Finds on Foreign Languages and Young Children:
1. Researchers use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the changes in blood flow of bilingual children and adults while having them name objects or describe events in different languages. People whom become bilingual at an early age use the same synapses for both languages, while those who learned a second language later on in life will use a different segment of the brain for the second language. A child's brain will be able to use synapses that will no longer be accessible later on in life.  

2.  The brain changes structurally in those of bilingual people. A bilingual person's brain will have denser grey matter than that of a monolinguals'. The left side of the brain that controls language will have the most pronounced change, as well as some change can be seen in the right hemisphere. The change will be more obvious the earlier the second language is learned. 

3. A child's brain have tremendous plasticity, this means that they are really flexible when it comes to adapting to new requirements, such as new grammar and sound perceptions.Infants are able to perceive sounds differently than adults.  

4. Bilinguals are better at multitasking than monolinguals are due to the brain being trained to attend to the meaning of the words and concept of one language, while suppressing the meaning of the other. Studies found that bilingual elderly people show a lower incidence of cognitive decline than that of their monolingual counterparts.