Foreign Language at Blake
Reprinted from "Parent News"
December, 2002/January, 2003
by guest columnist Lisa Lyle,
Assistant Head of School
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David Sedaris, in his poignant collection of personal essays, “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” describes two sorts of language spoken by American tourists: First, there’s the “Hard Kind” produced by the earnest tourist toting a phrasebook, who produces nonsense. And then there’s the speaker of the “Easy Kind,” armed with nothing more than naïve optimism that everyone will understand English, as long as it’s said loudly and slowly. We laugh nervously at such stereotypical descriptions of Americans abroad. Though we may doubt our own ability to use another language, we realize that our children will inhabit an increasingly global world and that fluency in other languages will prove critical. Since my arrival at Blake, I have noticed that questions about our foreign language offerings keep surfacing. Conversations are taking place in several venues (foreign language department, School Committee of the Board of Trustees, and the Curriculum Committee), and decisions, though not yet made, will be very soon. We must determine the language skills and dispositions our children will need, and then design the language curriculum to get them there.
In the past 50 years, world events have served to reshape our thinking about foreign languages. German and Russian courses, both once high in demand, now struggle to survive. Blake, like schools across the nation, no longer offers Russian and is phasing out German. (Students currently enrolled in German will continue through the sequence. We currently offer Spanish beginning in fourth grade, and French beginning in sixth.) Though French remains important internationally, enrollment in Spanish is on the rise. In the United States today, we have just over 30 million people of Latin American heritage, constituting roughly 11 percent of the population. In just 50 years, census projections indicate that a full quarter of the population will be of Latino origin. We must ask ourselves if basic proficiency in Spanish will be a necessity for all children, as demographic shifts transform the voice of America.
When Blake decided to eliminateGerman a couple of years ago, everyone naturally assumed a third foreign language offering would replace German. A committee was formed to gather data. Parent and student survey results indicate that the majority of our parents (60 percent) prefer Spanish. French comes in a distant second (15.9 percent). Interestingly, more Upper School parents and students chose Latin than Mandarin, Japanese, Russian and German combined.
Proponents of the study of Latin cite numerous advantages, including an increased understanding of grammar and a stronger vocabulary in English (a full 90 percent of words with more than two syllables in English derive from Latin). In addition, the study of Latin facilitates acquisition of modern Romance languages, such as Spanish or French. (Think, for example, of the family of English words similar to scribe. All share a derivation from the Latin, just as do the Spanish and French for “I write/I am writing,” escribo and j’écris, respectively.) Data would seem to suggest a strong correlation between the study of Latin and high average SAT verbal scores, though causation is not certain. While SAT scores alone do not provide a compelling reason to offer Latin, they do perhaps document the benefit of increased verbal achievement. We’ve begun to wonder if a Latin structures course might be beneficial to our students. In addition, the study of classical civilizations poses important questions about globalization and cultural cross-pollination, and requires an openness to that which is different, a cornerstone of our values as a school. It is also worth noting that the vast majority of our peer schools offer Spanish, French and Latin.
When I fell in love with France back at age 18, the language itself had little to do with it. I was first seduced by the taste of fresh croissants dunked in café au lait. Luck took me to Nice. In my French family and on the street, people tolerated a surprisingly high level of error as long as communication took place. Even though my own study of French began late, I went on to teach French for 18 years. My life has been immeasurably enriched by the experiences available to me as a fluent speaker of French, a gift I would want for all children.
In the world our children will inhabit, Sedaris’s “Easy” or “Hard” versions of foreign language will be inadequate. We must target both “Real” proficiency in foreign languages and an open disposition to the world around us. A carefully articulated foreign language program will do just that.
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