I’ll come right out at the very beginning and admit my bias: I am a polyglot. I speak 2 other languages fluently besides English. I am in the very slow process of learning Mandarin Chinese from my babysitter. (Who, by the way, as a homeschooler taught herself how to speak Chinese while she was in high school.) To be honest, if I could, I would likely go back to school and study more foreign language.
So it is a given that with all this foreign language swirling around our house, teaching a foreign language would be a given in our home schooling curriculum. It is afterall, very practical. But then I started to teach Spanish to my first daughter–who hated it. She wanted to learn French. No problem–that happens to be the other language I speak. Then came my son. Again, I brought out the Spanish materials but he wasn’t interested. He wanted to learn Swahili. You’d think with a mom that speaks all these foreign languages, they could pick something I actually speak or have a knowledge of? Even Portuguese would’ve been better than Swahili! But nonetheless, we studied Swahili for the last year and I have to say the experience has caused me to rethink the “why” of teaching a foreign language. Gone are the days when I insisted that practicality top the list of reasons to learn a foreign tongue. I now present to you, my reader, the newly revised list of reasons to learn a foreign language–even Swahili!
1. Practicality
I know I just said that I abandoned the practicality argument. That was only a little true. I have abandoned the idea that my children must learn Spanish. Any foreign language is very practical and is becoming more so as our nation becomes more ethnically diverse. Since leaving college, not having a profession that demanded I speak foreign language, I have translated numerous times for the woman in front of me in line or even in an emergency. I no longer assume that Spanish is the most practical language to learn.
2. College Admissions
Most good colleges insist on at least 2-3 years of foreign language study. 4 years looks better.
3. It Makes You Smarter
Really, honestly and truly. Students who study foreign languages tend to do better in college. Researchers think that it is because in order to be proficient at a foreign language you need to utilize a variety of study methods.
4. Everyone else does it.
Literally. Only 10% of the world’s population speaks English. That means the other 90% speak something else. Not only that but in many other countries, people speak at least one language besides their native tongue.
5. Your Part in Cultural Diversity
Among numerous objectives to try to encourage students in the direction in “tolerance”, is the idea that we are to embrace cultural diversity. Truly embrace it then, and work on a language as a family.
6. To Make Travel More Fun and Feasible
No doubt, traveling to the foreign country is easier if you speak their language. Even if you sound like a bumbling fool, they’ll appreciate the effort and even beginners can generally be understood. . .well basically. If nothing else, you’ll appreciate being able to order chicken off the menu instead of cow brains!
7. Talk about your children without them knowing what you’re saying.
I admit that the one reason we didn’t want to teach our kids French is so that my husband and I could still communicate without them knowing what we were saying.
8. Graduate School
Most higher level education requires the study of a foreign language. Depending on what you study and how far you go, you may even need foreign language knowledge to read primary source documents.
9. High Paying Jobs or at least. . .a job
Let’s face it–good jobs are hard to come by. At least two of my jobs have come as a result of my fluency in another language. And by the way, I beat out competition for one of those jobs because I spoke more than one foreign language!
10. Global Understanding and Politics
With new technology our world is literally getting smaller and smaller. You can meet people all over the world via the internet, webcams, and instant office programs. I think that translators will only continue to be more and more in demand.
In any case, you now have food for thought on teaching your child a foreign language. Look soon for the “how” to teach a foreign language to your homeschoolers!
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