.9 Foreign Language

We also have ambiguity about foreign language learning. There are two different components that are often confused. One is whether there should be a national curriculum for language and the other is what that national curriculum should be. The ideal balance is about half to two-thirds of the curriculum to be national. In addition language learning should be introduced much earlier. If everybody started learning Spanish in kindergarten then we would all speak Spanish by the time we got to high school. We are not so concerned with the quality of language education, only that it exists. Right now there is a preoccupation of the curriculum that we teach language in order for college preparation. We have some mistaken notions of quality, we don't necessarily get higher quality by having standard requirements. Making something a requirement doesn't make it high quality. Just because you require someone to have English in the ninth grade doesn't mean kids are going to learn English in the ninth grade. You can't achieve quality by testing there must be some substance there and that requires time. Trying to learn a language in four years (from ninth through twelfth grade) just isn't enough time to ensure quality of language education. We should start much earlier. To sum up, it is essential that we as educators form a national curriculum. We should all be on the same page in terms of what is being taught and how it is being taught. Such consistency would significantly reduce the problems of mobility and inequality that plague education today. In addition, we should set in place a predictable wy to amend our new national curriculum, so that we may keep up with the latest in research and technology and thus eliminate the problem of obsolescence that also plagues education.

Food for Thought
Through what means might American educators begin the process of creating a national curriculum? Would such an effort take place through the Federal government or should it be the realm of professional organizations or should local communities band together in a convention????? How would you suggest we tackle the initial problem of getting started?

	Why is there an ambiguity concerning learning foreign language?	Answer Here
	Mrs. Ferrera teaches Spanish in a school system in Virginia that requires at least two terms of a foreign language for graduation from high school. She teaches in a high school, and she has agreed to teach a fifth grade class at one of the elementary schools that eventually will feed into her high school. Most of the students at the elementary school are progressing more quickly than any of the students that she teaches at the high school. In fact, 95% of the students in the fifth grade class that she teaches have a 90 or better average in the course. Only about 10% of her high school students have this level of achievement. Why should Mrs. Ferrera convince the school system and the state of Virginia to change the state-wide curriculum to include some level of foreign language at an earlier time than high school?	Answer Here