Is French Being Left Behind?
Are schools bidding au revoir to French classes for children? The New York Times reported in March 2006 that thousands of public schools are bending to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind by cutting resources for non-mandated subjects like foreign languages. Meanwhile, trendy Chinese has become the language du jour, and Spanish classes are enjoying a new surge in popularity as the nation grapples with immigration issues. Where does this leave French for children?
Most parents considering French for their children need no convincing of the language's merits. High above the inane cries of "Freedom Fries" and "English First," French has retained its allure of sophistication, impeccability and culture. It is also the only other language besides English to be considered an official working language of the United Nations Secretariat. From truffles to François Truffaut, and the Little Prince to Camus - learning French, for children, may be the best thing to happen since they outgrew their terrible twos.
French for the youngest children
In past decades, educators believed - wrongly, as it turns out - that children needed to develop a basic knowledge of English before learning a second language, and therefore, foreign language instruction was often delayed until middle school or even later. Making French accessible for children and toddlers did occur, of course, but it was an activity largely restricted to bilingual households, private classes and tutors, and perhaps the influence of an au pair.
Deliberately delaying foreign language instruction is decidedly not in a child's best interests. Just ask any monolingual teenager who's struggling through French 101, trying to differentiate "vous" from "vu." He or she can surely tell you, from experience, what scientific studies have confirmed: "hearing" the unique phonetic sounds of French comes more easily for children than it does for teens and adults.
The relative ease of French for children doesn't mean that humans are particularly francophonic at birth. We all have an aptitude for acquiring all languages.
"At first, baby's brain is an empty slate," writes science and health correspondent Robert Bazell in a January 2007 MSNBC.com article. "But by the time they're 6 months old, most babies respond only to the sounds they hear repeatedly from parents and others - usually just one language."
Limiting a child's exposure to a single language, like English, will gradually reduce their natural ability to hear and reproduce the phonetics native to other languages, like French or Arabic or Mandarin Chinese. This does not mean that adolescents and teenagers - and even adults - are unable to successfully learn French, but it does suggest why, when confronting a new language, older students may encounter difficulties.
Benefits of French for children - from cradle to college
When children are too young to talk, their brains are actively modeling the linguistic patterns of parents and caregivers. Even so, French, even for children, is not learned overnight. Michele Anciaux Aoki, an international communication consultant, spoke with National Public Radio's KPLU in September 2005. "Language takes time to develop," she told her Seattle audience. "You could compare it to something like music, for example."
Optimally, French lessons for children should begin early in life, to take advantage of this precious 'window of opportunity' for parents to introduce children to new experiences that will guide and shape their perspective throughout life. The youngest learners are some of the most uninhibited and enthusiastic. And, although French may be currently less popular than Chinese or Spanish for language learners in the US, enthusiasm for learning French, for children as well as their parents, has a strong future.
Education Week reported in October 2005 that new research linked early exposure to foreign languages to better academic performance in later years, spurring a "growing niche" in tutoring for pre-kindergartners.
"We are seeing a growing desire by young parents to give their children bilingual and bicultural experiences," said Michele Anciaux Aoki, in her 2005 NPR interview. "Every week I'm hearing about new programs for preschoolers to be exposed to another language, for example. These people are going to begin demanding that their children continue to have these opportunities."
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