What do you think is the most effective way to turn this idea into real policy? Add your suggestions here for how you think we should run an advocacy campaign to advance the idea – including the overall strategy, messaging, targets, and tactics.

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1. 

   I had no idea that there was a vote on this.  Myself, and a large portion of my friends and family are in favor of Esperanto, especially at a scholastic level. Had I been informed of this sooner, there would have been at least an additional 10 votes, if not more, on this issue.
   
   I apologize for not paying enough attention.
   
   
   

   Suggested by Aaron Meier on 01/16/2009 @ 10:33PM PT

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2. 

   
   Implementing the teaching of Esperanto in Schools.
   
   Most of the Esperanto speakers before Internet, learned
   the language by themselves, with the help of a textbook,
   and in later years, also with help from records and tapes.
   
   Today, most learners get their lessons from Internet.
   The biggest site for learning Esperanto is
   
      http://en.lernu.net/
   
   where the courses, are written in more than 30 languages.
   It also have books, games, and other helps to learn
   and practice Esperanto.
   
   To teach Esperanto in schools to children from 7 to 18
   years old we don't need high level professors. Most of
   the teachers that teach English aren't.
   
   What is important, is that these teachers, be already
   teachers in other subjects. Language, science, math,
   social sciences teachers will be in better position, but
   any person trained as a teacher can learn Esperanto
   and teach it to beginners.
   
   If any students want to learn the language to a high
   level, they will have to continue their education, same
   if the language is Esperanto, English or any other.
   
   We don't need to start teaching Esperanto in all the
   schools at the same time. We can start groups in
   different locations and then we will see how students
   progress ... not only in Esperanto.
   
   I would like to set "a group" of teachers willing to learn
   and teach Esperanto. I can help they learn Esperanto.
   They could live in any part of the country. I will correct
   their lessons by email. These learners will be encouraged
   to communicate with each other in Esperanto, or with
   Esperanto speakers living in other countries.
   
   Every willing learner will start writing in not so perfect
   Esperanto after less than 10 hours learning. Their
   Esperanto will be much better after 20 hours. After
   30 to 50 hours they will gain some fluency. After 100
   hours they should be capable of using the language.
   They will need some more practice to get really fluent.
   
   Those who are interested, same for teachers or for
   students, start with my web page at
   
      http://esperantofre.com/edu/lernua.htm
   
   and please email me. My email address is on all my
   pages. Please click the word "Enrique" at the top or
   bottom on any of my pages.
   
   Best wishes,
   
   Enrique
   from Fremont, California, USA
   

   Suggested by Enrique E on 01/16/2009 @ 04:53PM PT

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3. 

   Hello,
   
   I'd like to suggest three possible partner organizations for implementation of this idea.
   
   One is Education@Internet, a non-profit supported, among others, by Google, and dedicated on bringing language-learning methods online. Their existing projects include lernu! and 'Lingva Prismo', which could be used or adapted to teach Esperanto to the American school children. A lot of Education@Internet's members are in the US, working with computer and communication technologies as well as teaching Esperanto.
   
   Another one is Esperantic Studies Foundation, a think tank dedicated to research about multilingualism. It provides scientifical and methodological support to the teaching of Esperanto.
   
   And the third is Esperanto-USA , an American non-profit that unites the US esperantists and promotes Esperanto. They organize courses, lectures, presentations, and there are quite a few teachers of Esperanto among their members that will probably be highly interested in help this idea see the light.

   Suggested by Oleg Izyumenko on 01/16/2009 @ 02:02PM PT

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4. 

   I support this 1. because like many other volunteers, I teach Esperanto online in the Free Esperanto Course. I often find myself teaching pupils how to analyse English sentences so that they can translate them. This skill will benefit them in their English work and in learning other foreign languages.
   2. One difficulty when communicating with a native speaker of another country is that they find it difficult to avoid using idioms so that communication can be difficult for the non-native speaker or the native speaker has to restrict himself. For two Esperantists, both have had to learn the language so there is no natural advantage for one over the other.
   3. Because Esperanto is quick to learn, a creative teacher will be soon be able to set up contact with a school which has a contrasting culture to the child's own.  For instance, a child would have to learn Polish (an extremely difficult language, rarely taught as part of the curriculum) for at least a year before he could begin even the most basic communication with a Polish child whereas Esperanto (which has a sound following in Poland) will allow both cultures to meet, promoting mutual understanding and racial harmony.

   Suggested by Evelyn Woolston on 01/16/2009 @ 12:23PM PT

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5. 

   -- Esperanto as a tool to open doors to other cultures --
   
     As a (new) esperantist, I have freshly discovered how Esperanto is efficient to open his own mind to other culture. I think that Esperanto shouldn't be considered as an issue in itself, but as a tool to discover other cultures. Language and culture can't be dissociated.
   
     So I suggest to provide Esperanto courses in that way. I suppose that it is done like this with the springboard program in the UK (I know nothing about it...).
   
     I think it would be interesting not to provide annoying courses that explain for example in detail the grammar. Esperanto grammar, spelling, word construction,... are simple and can be learnt by very young children (because it fits to the language of the children). In that way, games, chat sessions, role-plays, theaters sessions, music sessions, etc, should be as efficient as grammar lessons to learn the language. Because, people learn better when the don't realize that they learn something, due to  the delight they have through games. I think these courses should be aside to normal courses, without compulsory exam, just like sport.
   
     I'm not sure about at which age to provide Esperanto courses. Some suggest to teach to very young people, even before to teach English itself, because Esperanto help to understand better his own language. As I consider that Esperanto shouldn't threat other language, I would suggest to teach it after English itself, for example to children between 10 and 12. At that age they still have very good skills to learn languages, and it would be a great plus to learn other natural languages.
    
     As it was mentioned several times, It doesn't take much time to learn Esperanto. 150 hours is supposed to be enough (by far), it means 1 year with 4 hours per week.
   
     It's important to recall that the US has no official languages. There are still part of the country where other languages are used, like Indian languages. It would be great if the teach of Esperanto would be accompanied with a recognition of the threat these languages faces, and support the teaching in non-English languages.
   
     Greetings,
   

   Suggested by Aleks ks on 01/16/2009 @ 10:04AM PT

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6. 

   This is very a very good idea for us americans... We need to go out from our autism. With Esperanto we americans will become very workd cityzens, "homaranoj", members of a new global world!

   Suggested by Shanti Toy on 01/16/2009 @ 07:20AM PT

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