Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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The right time to teach language
I had a couple other thoughts Bob Taft’s comments to DDN reporters and editors from Friday.
The first had to do with foreign language study. If you’ve read this blog regularly you know I am a proponent of foreign language study and Taft proposed in his state-of-the-state address that high schools require two years of foreign language study beginning in 2011.
Here was my question to Taft. If foreign language is such an important skill for our kids to have and the research strongly suggests the best time to learn language is in the early years when children are learning their native languages, how come I can’t find an elementary school language program for my children, even though I live in one of Dayton’s best regarded school districts (Kettering)?”
I believe the governor’s exact words were: “Yes isn’t that something? It’s a real problem.”
I also asked, if we believe the research, why the state doesn’t require these two years of language instruction in elementary school rather than in high school?
He said he thought it would probably cost too much.
But will this be any cheaper to implement at high school? Principals already hold their breaths after a language teacher retires or quits because finding another good one is no simple task.
Ellen Belcher, the DDN’s editorial page editor, asked if we should consider paying teachers more if they specialists in an area of high need, like foreign language or math and science.
Taft said he thought that was a good idea, but that districts were probably hemmed in by union contracts that won’t let them pay more.
Yes, but what about the state, Mark Fisher asked? Ohio already pays extra to National Board Certified teachers directly from state coffers. Couldn’t they do the same for specialty teachers in short supply? Taft and his top education aide, Susan Bodary, said yes it could, but stopped short of saying they’d propose or push for that idea.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Foreign Language and Study Abroad
Comments
By Adam Butler
February 4, 2006 7:43 AM | Link to this
Thanks for this great post. You’ve got some really good info in your blog. If you get a chance, you can check out my blog on charter bus at http://www.charterbus4less.com. Adam Butler http://www.charterbus4less.com.By Amerloc
February 3, 2006 10:04 AM | Link to this
Yes, language acquisition is easiest at the early-elementary level. That is indeed where it should start. But, if I have two years of Chinese when I’m let’s-say eight and nine, how much of it will I be able to remember and use when I hit my late teens and early twenties? If we had any real desire for graduates with something resembling language proficiency, we would quit pretending that it can be accomplished in only two years.By Mary
January 30, 2006 9:03 PM | Link to this
Thanks to all on the Dayton Daily News staff for asking these questions of Governor Taft. I think pointing out that the state could help work around “union rules” to provide appropriate language opportunities for students was a good suggestion. However, I think local authorities should be put to task as well. Some schools and other countries set priorities so that their younger students have these foreign language opportunites. I think local school districts allot more discretionary spending for high school students than they do for elementary and middle school. Instead of spending this money on academic opportunites, they seem to first of all protect things like after school programs for small numbers of students on varsity teams. If a high school needs a basketball or football coach, they go all out in the hiring process. I never hear about the same level of effort and concern for finding a foreign language, math or science teacher.