language education in u.s. schools

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Page 1: Language Education in U.S. Schools

© 2001-2016 Globalization Partners International. All rights reserved. Trade marks are property of their respective owners.

Language Education in U.S. Schools

Page 2: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

© Globalization Partners International. All rights reserved.http://blog.globalizationpartners.com/ 2

One of the things I admire about countries outside of the United States is the emphasis on

language education. I have always envied people who were taught multiple languages at

an early age and are multilingual.

Page 3: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

© Globalization Partners International. All rights reserved.http://blog.globalizationpartners.com/ 3

I grew up in rural Montana, and the local Hutterites were fluent in German and taught their

children German as a first language. This fascinated me. I loved hearing their accents.  Trips to the Hutterite colony for fresh produce coupled with a friend's exchange student from Germany

are where my interest in languages began.

Page 4: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

© Globalization Partners International. All rights reserved.http://blog.globalizationpartners.com/ 4

U.S. Schools

The elementary and high school I attended offered some Spanish and French. My fourth grade teacher taught us phrases in French and my elementary Spanish teacher taught us introductory Spanish. But, it was nothing like my English classes where we were deconstructing sentences and learning about active verbs, direct objects and prepositional phrases.

Page 5: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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In high school, I took additional Spanish classes and was able to expand my Spanish ability a little. We were only required to take one semester of a foreign language. There was one Spanish teacher in the high school and other languages were taught on a computer based program, there were no options for non-European languages.

This isn't necessarily the same curriculum in all U.S. schools, but I know many students around the country have far less opportunities for language education than their peers worldwide.

Page 6: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Global Language Education Statistics

I studied in Germany and Italy for a summer in college and I remember being so frustrated that there wasn't the same push for foreign language education in the United States like there was in Europe.  All the students in Europe I interacted with spoke two languages, at minimum.

Page 7: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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•Many EU Member States have nearly 100% of their students learning English in primary schools •In Belgium, 94% of students learn English, 23% learn French and 21% learn German •In the Netherlands, 68% of students learn at least two languages •21 of the top 25 industrialized countries begin the study of world languages in grades K-5, while the majority of U.S. students begin studying a second language at age 14 •Singapore's Mother Tongue Language (MTL) policy requires all students who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents to study their respective official MTL: Chinese, Malay and Tamil •50% of U.S. students study a world language, compared to 90% of European students who study at least one foreign language

Page 8: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Page 9: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Language Advocacy Day

May 8th was Language Advocacy day, an annual event on Capitol Hill to gain more federal support for language education.  Educators from around the United States lobbied for language programs in U.S. schools.

Image Credit:  AuPair4U

Page 10: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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According to a Modern Language Association report, enrollment in higher education language courses dropped 111,000 spots between 2009 and 2011, the first drop since 1995. Amelia Friedman, founder of the Student Language Exchange, states that only 7% of college students in the U.S. are enrolled in a language course.

Language learning faces multiple challenges from teacher shortages to student interest and need. The prevalence of English being used globally, has resulted in a lower priority for language education.

Page 11: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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In a recent article by Friedman, another challenge she mentions regarding language education, is the languages being taught. Spanish and French instruction is commonly found, but languages offered beyond that varies greatly. She states that world emergencies have an impact on what languages are taught in U.S. schools. For example, Slavic languages during the Cold War and Middle Eastern languages during the War on Terror. This can become an issue as it takes years to become proficient and constantly changing what languages are being taught is not an effective way to teach or learn languages.

Page 12: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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There are many benefits of language learning, including cognitive and academic benefits. One possible solution to the lack of education in the U.S. is to conduct dual-language courses in schools. This would eliminate the need to hire separate language instructors. According to Friedman's article, Bill Rivers, a prominent language lobbyist, cites strong evidence that shows students in dual-language programs outperform their peers in reading and math by fourth grade, regardless of race or socio-economic status.

Page 13: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Conclusion

In this current age of globalization, language skills are vital. The world is becoming smaller and smaller and the need to communicate across borders has become necessary and expected. Companies are now competing in a global marketplace and translation and localization services are a common piece of business strategies. Rivers claims languages are not a "nice-to-have," they are a "need-to-have." Language proficiency is a life-long task. Language skills are like muscles that need to be exercised to avoid atrophy. If you don't use it, you will lose it. And it will take much less time to lose than it took to gain. I hope that U.S. schools will gain more support for language education programs and incorporate more of them into their curriculums. Studies show students will perform better academically and it will put them in a better position to compete with peers worldwide as they begin their careers.

Page 14: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Educational and eLearning Content Localization and Translation Services

Globalization Partners International (GPI), a global translation agency, provides comprehensive localization and

translation services for a wide range of educational content for companies, schools and institutes. We have supported the global

training and eLearning initiatives at some of the world's most recognizable brands in online recruiting, hotel and hospitality,

security, consulting and finance. Our educational content localization teams will help you localize and translate your eBooks,

courses, training content, multimedia and presentations in over 100 languages, from Arabic to Spanish.

Page 15: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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Additional Resources on Educational Content Localization Services

For further information on GPI's expertise localizing and translating educational materials, please see some of our previous blogs:

The Key to eLearning Localization Success: Customer Acceptance!Challenges of eLearning Localization with Synchronous eLearning

eLearning and Localization - An EducationThe Localization Challenges of Self-Paced eLearning

Localization challenges in translating eLearning contentHow to create eBook Fixed Layout with Adobe InDesign CC 2014

How to Create Interactive PDFs using InDesignHow to Optimize Images for eBooks

Please feel free to contact GPI at [email protected] with any questions

about our translation services. Also let us know if you have any interesting blog topics you would like us to cover in future blogs. You may also request a complimentary

Translation Quote for your projects as well.

Page 16: Language Education in U.S. Schools

Language Education in U.S. Schools

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