Help bring foreign language education curriculum to Santa Barbara elementary schools!

In addition to developing a lifelong ability to communicate with more people, children may derive other benefits from early language instruction, including improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills. Knowing a second language ultimately provides a competitive advantage in the workforce by opening up additional job opportunities. Students of foreign languages score statistically higher on standardized tests conducted in English. In its 1992 report, College Bound Seniors: The 1992 Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, the College Entrance Examination Board reported that students who averaged 4 or more years of foreign language study scored higher on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) than those who had studied 4 or more years in any other subject area. In addition, the average mathematics score for individuals who had taken 4 or more years of foreign language study was identical to the average score of those who had studied 4 years of mathematics. These findings are consistent with College Board profiles for previous years.

Students of foreign languages have access to a greater number of career possibilities and develop a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. Some evidence also suggests that children who receive second language instruction are more creative and better at solving complex problems. The benefits to society are many. Americans fluent in other languages enhance our economic competitiveness abroad, improve global communication, and maintain our political and security interests.

·         Graduating high school seniors with two or more years of foreign language study showed significant superiority in performance on achievement tests in English when compared with nonforeign language students.

·         A group of students had begun to learn French in Grade 7 were compared to a group that had 80 minutes per week of FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary Schools) beginning in Grade 3. FLES students outperformed non-FLES students in every area.

·         Current brain research indicates that there is a window of opportunity during childhood when basic connections for language learning are most easily made.

·         The most successful second-language learner is one who starts early because the ability to learn another language is highest between birth and age six.

·         Children who start learning a second language in elementary school or before have an easier time hearing and processing the language and are less likely to speak with an accent.

·         Children who receive regular, systematic second language instruction in elementary school perform better in their first language and in school overall.  They develop stronger problem-solving skills, become more creative, and understand their own culture and other cultures better.

·         Children who study second languages get higher scores on verbal and math sections of standardized tests.