In a Nov. 2012 document called “Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement,” the U.S. Department of Education wrote, “In today’s globalized world, an effective domestic education agenda must … aim to develop a globally competent citizenry.”
The document continues: “Students will need to have the substantive knowledge and understanding to address issues, phenomena, and catastrophes that cut across borders. … They also will need to be able to communicate and work collaboratively with international peers to address these global challenges.”
“The world is becoming more and more internationally connected,” said Megan Dunnigan, coordinator for the Provo, Utah, School District’s eSchool program, which uses an online curriculum from Middlebury Interactive Languages to teach foreign languages to students.
She added: “Learning another language gives students more opportunities.”
A crucial life skill
That’s a belief shared by Delaware Governor Jack Markell, a Democrat, who in 2012 created a program to bring foreign language instruction to the state’s elementary schools.
“World language capacity is crucial … to maintain and strengthen our state’s economy,” Markell said in a statement. “We want students in Delaware to have the challenge and the opportunity to learn another language before they reach high school.”
Funded by a federal Race to the Top grant, Markell’s World Languages Expansion Initiative aims to bring immersion programs in either Spanish or Mandarin Chinese to 10,000 students in grades K-8 by 2022.
“The ability to speak another language is a life skill that is becoming crucial in the global job marketplace and to our growing state economy,” Markell said, noting that in Asia and Europe, children typically begin learning additional languages as early as five years old.
As of press time, the program was in place at 12 elementary schools in Delaware. Students are taught academic content in English and a foreign language, with a focus on building proficiency.
Kindergarteners entering the program will be able to continue their immersion study into middle school and earn Advanced Placement credit in ninth grade. In high school, they’ll be encouraged to study additional languages, as well as continue their immersion study through dual-credit offerings.
Learning another language in the early grades often results in the development of native or near-native pronunciation and intonation, research suggests. That’s why the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recommends that students “be provided the opportunity to learn a second language as early as possible in school.”
Other benefits to learning other languages in the early grades include “strengthening of literacy in students’ first language, raising standardized test scores in other subject areas, and developing comfort with cultural differences,” the organization says.
(Next page: How technology can help with foreign language instruction)
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