Spanish in Schools

[HorseFeathers]

I learned early, because I lived in Hispanic countries, and I take it now in middle school. I plan to continue in high school, along with Latin. I like my languages!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
And I salute you for it.

You can only control what you can control. Many of us are set in our opinions and facts will not change that. And we see different facts because of our experiences. Perception truly is reality. And we all have the right to our opinions. It's in the constitution. We can even express them. It is possible someone who had not considered this issue before will read your thread and truly think about this for the first time. You have tried to influence them in what I think is the right direction. Thank you for that.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Learning a foreign language is soon going to be a government mandate for graduation requirements. In Michigan, for instance, they're moving to 3-4 years of a foreign language by graduation.

Knowing another language is a good skill to have. I think we should follow the rest of the world and value it more than we do. Unfortunately, native English speakers are spoiled by the privilege of knowing English, so it doesn't seem as important to some of us as it should.

I feel more confident going to other countries because I know a second language. Because I know Spanish, I was able to read a lot of signs and menus when I was in Rome because Spanish and Italian are very closely related. I went to a small family-owned restaurant where the owner didn't know English, but he knew Spanish so we were able to communicate. It was awesome.

 

[SarahFair]

I heard (aside from what I think would be the super hard latin) that English is one of the hardest languages to learn.
We have words that sound the same spelled different and have different meanings..
Example:
There
Their
They're

Bye
Buy

Hey
Hay


Spelled the same sound the same different meaning
Example:
bow - To bend forward at the waist in respect (e.g. "bow down")
bow - the front of the ship (e.g. "bow and stern")
bow - the weapon which shoots arrows (e.g. "bow and arrow")
bow - a kind of tied ribbon (e.g. bow on a present, a bowtie)
bow - to bend outward at the sides (e.g. a "bow-legged" cowboy)
bough - a branch on a tree. (e.g. "when the bough breaks...")
bô - a long staff, usually made of tapered hard wood or bamboo
beau—a male paramour


I think if our kids can learn all this than a second language should be nothing

 

[luvchicks8]

My son goes to a very small school there is only 8 kids in his class but they have to take French from k-8 th grade. There is no Spanish option but our school is thinking about adding it as a choice.

 

[Chickenmaven]

Quote:
The language of the Universe of Texas?

Just kidding. I love to poke fun at my friends from Texas. They are mostly bilingual, yet will argue against mandating bilingualism...

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

I wish I had had the opportunity to learn another language. But it was not offered in my grade school or high school. And there was no elective at the college for Spanish.

My daughter has several "spanish" speaking classmates. The teachers and the other students in KG were struggling to understand them. And vice versa. She is now entering 1st grade(on the 31st!!) and I am hoping that there will be a language offered at some point to them. However. Since it is not something on the MCAS test I doubt it will be.
I plan on looking into getting her a Spanish tutor next year. Because it is a fact that the kids need to learn it. I know perfectly well that if I spoke Spanish or PR that I would be able to get a job faster and better paying job at that.

 

[FrenchHen]

What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks two? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks one? American.

Klingon and Elvish don't count.

 

[SarahFair]

Quote:
Oh come on now! Elvish doesnt count?

Dang all that for nothing

 

[Sillystunt]

I was just talking about this. Alot of the charter schools teach kids spanish or french in their schools. they start in Elem school. I WISH!!!! I would love for my children to learn spanish. My husband teaches it to my toddlers but it's cali-spanglish~