Week 5

Throughout my whole life I have been very interested in learning other languages. I grew up around the Amish so I have learnt a lot from them. When their children are young they tend to only speak one language around them. They usually start with only speaking English to their kids. Once they are old enough they introduce them to the Pennsylvania Dutch. It is much easier to learn Dutch after mastering English. I believe that a child that is bilingual is an all around smarter person. My high school was very into the whole foreign exchange program. We had kids from all over the world come every year. They came from places like China, Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands, Sweden, and so many other places. These kids started taking English classes at the age of 7. They always seemed a lot more educated being able to know and be able to speak another language fluently. This is also makes it a lot easier for them to come to America and do a semester or a year in high school. It is much harder for Americans that only know one language to go over seas to study abroad. For me I did not start learning foreign language until eighth grade. It came easy for me seeing as I took German classes. I was exposed to the Amish ways as a young child and there is only small differences. A lot of kids in my class struggled a lot though. Learning a language just gets harder and harder as we get older. I believe that here in the United States, they need to start making foreign language in elementary school mandatory. As said in the book "scientist once thought that early childhood was a critical period for language learning-- the only time when a first language could be mastered and the best time for learning a second or third language " (Berger, p.247). Making foreign language classes a part of every schools curriculum I believe will help better educate our young children and get us back in the ranking for one of the smartest nations in the world.