Chloe Beth Armstrong

Franais 111
Keneman
7 Decembre 2015

La Rflexion Finale
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After my first semester of French 111, I believe it is in the United States utmost

interest to begin implementing bilingual programs in elementary schools, because by

the time you reach high school and college, it is extremely difficult sometimes to learn a
new language.
I believe preserving traditions is always more important than dissolving into a
dominant culture because of preserving identifies. Naturally, it would be wrong to ask
immigrants to lose their roots traditions and assimilate into the dominant culture, but it
isn't entirely unreasonable to ask them to learn bits of English in order to survive
current day America. I also agree with Obama on the fact we need to make America
more friendly to non English speakers, and learn bits of what we can from other
cultures. However, personally I think it is naturally more difficult for Americans to learn
other languages because of geography. In Europe, countries are smaller, closer, and
cultures interwoven. In America, the rich have access to other countries, and some
people have Mexico and Canada to travel to, but those are just to English tourist
attractions. The average American cultures are English (with the exceptions of
metropolis cities), and we are connected across the country to ourselves.
The definite benefits to bilingual education would be access to other languages
and cultures, but the disadvantage being current lack of spheres of influence that would

give kids the chance to always practice the other languages, since America is very
English. However, the systems work great in places such as Qubec, Canada, where
students learn either English at a French school or French at an English school, because
it preserves their natural identities while also educating them in a language related
closely to their own.
The only benefit of a monolingual education is knowing your own language inside
and out, but it is a disadvantage because you aren't connected to other cultures than
your own. The US should begin foreign language curriculum in Spanish in elementary
school as a gateway language, then in middle school/junior high students can explore
other languages, such as French, German, or Chinese. In high school, students can
continue with those languages and/or take on more challenging ones such as Arabic or
Latin. (However, a base in Latin would be beneficial in middle school before taking
other Romance languages).
If I had to plan school curriculum, I would probably offer all classes in English
and other languages, because having an English may help out struggling students if
needed, but having options such as Art in French and Math in German would allow
students to learn and apply new levels of thinking.
All in all, I am completely for the US incorporating foreign languages earlier.