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pam said:
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Still, I also think that Americans tend to frown upon rather than encourage bilingualism where many people in other countries know 2 or more languages just as a matter of basic education.
WTF?
Foreign language courses are required credits now.
That's true, but I don't think the people who teach those required courses put any effort into actually teaching foreign languages, especially when it comes to conversational skills. At least in grade school they don't - in college, I actually managed to pick up some decent conversational skills.
But throughout grade school, which is the perfect time to lay the foundations for learning another language, I've walked away from foreign language courses with all the credits I need, decent grades, but minimal language skills (if any.) I went to elementary school in Miami, and I took Spanish for FIVE YEARS (and my Spanish teacher was actually Hispanic.) All we did was play kickball and watch cartoons in ENGLISH (and a little bit of reading out loud - so I can read Spanish, but I have no idea what I'm saying.) For FIVE FUCKING YEARS. My parents kept complaining to the principal, but nothing was ever done about it (and I wasn't allowed by the school to stop going to the class). As a result, I'm probably the only Miami native who can't speak Spanish because some bitch of a teacher wasted five years teaching me how to play kickball.
When I studied Hebrew at a private school, my teachers were lousy, but at least they TRIED to teach us Hebrew. How the hell am I supposed to learn how to speak Spanish if my teachers refuse to teach me how?
And from what I've heard from other students, I'm not the only one who's gone through something similar to this.
So based on my experiences, just because teaching foreign languages is required in grade school and college, doesn't mean that the people responsible for teaching it actually care if the students are able to learn a foreign language or not. And that's certainly discouraging to someone who actually wants to learn another language, or who may need to in order to find work in their hometown (in Miami, one's chances of finding a job are slimmer if they don't know Spanish.)
Last edited by Darknight613; 2004-05-12 3:27 PM.
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