We've all heard at one time or another the infamous "This is America, everyone should speak English." phrase. Or maybe you've even heard, "Everyone speaks English anyway." Often times in foreign language classrooms, students who do not show an interest in the subject will tend to say these types of statements in the classroom. I know in my high school Spanish class, I myself, was one of the biggest offenders of saying this time and time again! Going to Montclair, I was pretty upset that I had to take a foreign language, as I was a History major. I took French because all of the other classes I looked at were full. Montclair showed me something that my high school failed to do. Montclair showed me that foreign language was more important than I thought!
As I was going along with the two required semesters of French, I remember thinking to myself that this was a lot more interesting than my high school Spanish class, but still useless! I remember doing elementary level projects on Parisian landmarks which actually peaked my interest as I liked history, and France definitely has a colorful one! As my language skills in French progressed, I became more interested in actually trying to learn the language, and to this very day I cant figure out why it happened at Montclair and not at my high school, but what I do know is, I quickly learned that foreign language is more important than I thought!
Contrary to what many people may believe, foreign language education is way more than just learning how to say "Bonjour" or "Adios!" Let's look at our own language. For those of us native English speakers, many would say that although they can fluently speak the language, they don't understand how grammar works the way it does. Some of us even confuse parts of speech, and don't a pronoun from an adverb. By learning a foreign language, you have to start with the basics! By doing this, you are inevitably re-teaching yourself grammar! Although the grammar is in a foreign language, it is an excellent review for students to remind them of what pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives are, thus improving their grammar and sentence structure skills in English! Another benefit from learning a foreign language is for the cultural aspect. In a language class, often times the cultures of the countries that speak the languages are taught, as they should be! I learned so much from all the "elementary level" projects I described earlier! Although the projects were very easy, I had learned about different buildings I had never even heard of. Learning a language provides us with the opportunity to learn about different hand gestures, and norms of the people of the countries touched by the language! Learning about world culture is a great way to open up one's mind and even reduce stereotyping and racism! For those who cannot afford to travel to different countries and experience different cultures, foreign language classes are a great way for students to learn about world cultures.
As a future teacher, I am ready to share my own personal language learning stories with my students who may have the same preconceived ideas that I had about foreign language. I want to be able to show them that I was once in their place too, and thought that foreign language was a waste of time. I want to show them that I can relate to them, so that when I tell them why foreign language is in fact important, they will take my words more seriously than from someone who may just come off as overly passionate about their subject area. I want to SHOW them why I became so passionate about foreign language.
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