Language Education Opportunities in Schools

It used to be that studying English and learning the fundamentals of the foreign language of your choice in high school (select German, French, Spanish, or curiously enough, Latin) was enough.

The world has gotten smaller thanks to global immigration, the Internet and the resurgence of the Asian, South American, Middle Eastern, African business market strengths. It is not enough to know English well and be able to struggle through a few grammar exercises in German. To fully appreciate and participate in the global business economy, today's students are encouraged to become proficient at a second language.

For business purposes, Chinese has become particularly lucrative to learn. Students have always been encouraged to travel to foreign countries and immerse themselves in the local speech. In the usual experience, grammar, idioms, reading, writing, listening and speech are most rapidly learned in this manner. And, in China, where local businesses are eager to learn English, the students can teach English while learning the local dialect.

For more local purposes, it is useful to understand Spanish. With a growing Spanish speaking population in America, the ability to converse fluently is useful in many career choices. Job applicants for medical, social service, education, police, and retail customer service who speak Spanish as well as English are at an advantage over those who do not.

Studying a foreign language is begun as early as grade school. Some schools work with a sister school in a reciprocal agreement. For example, students have pen pals in Costa Rica who practice their English writing skills, while American students practice their Spanish writing skills. The American students travel as a class and stay with their pen pal families one year. In the following year the Costa Rican students travel to America and stay with their American pen pals.