Discussion»Questions»Communication» How do you feel about all schools being be-lingual? Why not have us all speak the same language, verbally, on an intellectual level?
That would mean the teachers would have to be bi-lingual. There aren't enough of them qualified to fill all of the schools. Also, what would be the second language?
I hope whatever language the second may be, spelling is mandatory. I didn't catch the Be-lingual until right this second. Sorry. Now, about teachers... much to my dismay, kids are learning more from their computers and phones than interacting with their peers in a schooling setting. The teachers would be what they carry in their pockets. I did think about the second language issue when I posted this. I think the second language might be geographically dictated. Ex: United States would have Spanish. Upper United States perhaps French. Maybe if we started learning two, as we multiply they would combine as would the french and so on. Pretty soon it might be like Farsi. The ball would be rolling and in no time we all would combine and stop the language barrier problem. It seems a natural way to evolve. The question remains, do we?
We don't have an official national language, as Element 99 said. I do believe that English should be the primary language that everyone learns (and I mean everyone). There are people who come to this country, live here for decades, and still cannot speak English with any proficiency. I can't imagine becoming a citizen of a country and not being able to communicate in the language of that country. I do believe that every school should teach a second language (of one's choice), and that it be taught beginning in elementary school when it is easiest to learn a language. As children move to middle school, they can choose another language if they've become proficient in the original foreign language; same when reaching high school.
I did take Spanish in school and I have several friends who speak the language so I would practice with them. However, I'm not around any of them anymore, so I've lost a lot of it, but most f the time, I can manage well enough to get my thought across.
You do not even know how much I agree with you. It is one of my, wait.... probably my ONLY PET PEEVE! I could write you a novel about how much this bothers me. I posted this question because I was thinking globally and Ancient Aliens is on. (We record them.) They were talking about how they couldn't communicate, blah, blah, blah. BUT I do agree with you a bizillion percent. If I went to France, I'd learn French. Mexico, I'd learn Spanish... even BEFORE I moved there. Ugh! Don't get me started. It was a global thought! :) :)
This post was edited by Merlin at August 30, 2018 7:41 AM MDT
No. That's how I feel. I do believe that every high school grad should be proficient in English plus a language of their choice. English should be the only mandatory language and should be mandatory for all..........children and adults.
People benefit from knowing more than one language; the U.S. is in the minority being a country where most of the population is monolingual. Bilingualism is good for brain development.
I don't think bilingualism in schools needs to be required, but I encourage and support it.
I think it would be wonderful if every student learned the 5 official languages of the UN.
Or better yet, if the world would decide on one international language that everybody had to know. You could still have your native language, but everybody would have a common language.
I am going to say it's a good idea.. provided it's not all schools... but to be bilingual is a huge advantage to those taught that way... to be able to speak two or more languages is just so fantastic and really helps those people in later life..
My experiences are as follows... I am entirely useless at languages... always have been... don't seem to have the brain for it but my sons both got a GCSE in German Young brains are the best at absorbing and naturalising learning of another language.. those brought up bilingual can switch easily between the two.. anyone who brings a child up speaking two language gives them such a gift I had an ex bf, he was able to speak several languages.. it was SO useful when we went to Lanzarote, he could speak to staff in SPanish and explain things and have them explain things... including menu and special things we wanted. He spoke to an American in German - all very cool. When my kids were younger I wanted to move to Wales... what put me off was that most of the schools there teach in Welsh.. well they have every right but it would have made things too difficult for my kids who have dyslexia/learning difficulties.. would have been too much for them.
Element 99 