Learning a foreign allows you to communicate in ways you never thought possible.

BY STEVIE THIEDA
OU News Bureau

People are connected more than ever because of advancements in technology, social networking, the Internet and travel.

While communication with people around the world is easier, there is an important area that still needs improvement —learning a foreign language.

More than 90 percent of children in Europe begin learning a foreign language in elementary school, while less than one-third of elementary schools in the United States offer foreign language courses to students.

Less than half of all middle and high school students in the United States are enrolled in a foreign language course, even though it is a requirement in Michigan that all students in ninth through twelfth grade take one.

Oakland University junior Megan VanSparrentak kept her future in mind by choosing to minor in Spanish.

Megan VanSparrentak

“Learning a foreign language is good for just about anyone,” VanSparrentak said.  “Regardless of what you major in, if you have some sort of degree and are able to say that you can speak another language, a company will probably want to hire you over someone who can’t say that about themselves.”

Washington State University’s Foreign Languages & Cultures Department reported, “More and more businesses work closely with companies in other countries. They need many different kinds of workers who can communicate in different languages and understand other cultures.”

Spanish is the most popular language studied in the United States, followed by French and German.

When it comes to speaking and writing in a foreign language, the younger you are, the better.

A child’s brain at 2 years old has twice as many connections as that of an adult brain.  These connections are lost over time if they are not used, so failure to learn a skill such as a foreign language at an early age can make it more difficult as time goes on. The critical period for learning a second language is at age 4 or 5 for the child to learn it and have it stick through life.

Spanish is the most commonly studied foreign language in U.S. colleges and universities. More than 850,000 students studied it in 2009. SOURCE/Association of Departments of Foreign Languages at the Modern Language Association, Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2010

Learning a foreign language enables a person to break communication barriers.

“Learning another language is a way to connect to others in a way that you simply can’t unless you both are on the same page, and can speak on common grounds with the same words, grammar and syntax,” said Michael Turner, a Spanish teacher at L’Anse Creuse North High School.

“The smile on a person’s face as you attempt to try and understand their life and connect to them in their language is completely priceless,” he continued. “It’s something you can never really find anywhere else other than when learning and perfecting another language.”

Not only can a foreign language be beneficial in communicating, but it can also help your mental health.

Studies suggest that learning a second language and speaking it regularly might improve your cognitive skills and even help delay the onset of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The ability to speak another language also gives a person the opportunity to become more cultured.

“Learning a foreign language helps people become open to new experiences,” VanSparrentak said.  “I’m going (through school) to the Dominican Republic this summer, and I don’t think that would have been possible if I didn’t know Spanish.”

Taking on another language can lead to a sense of accomplishment, too.

“Learning another language is challenging, but once you are able to finally speak to someone without hesitation in their native language, even if it’s not your native one, it’s exhilarating,” Turner said. “It’s like something you never thought you’d accomplish, but yet you manage to do it.”

 Tweet

Liam pets 2 ½-year-old Maggie, a poodle wheaten terrier mix. “I started volunteering to give back, but it’s the children that give to you,” said therapy dog owner Ellen Silverberg, right. PHOTO/KELLI WARSHEFSKI

BY KELLI WARSHEFSKI
OU News Bureau

A wet nose and a wagging tail can deliver a special therapy all its own.

The people at Pet-A-Pet offer animal therapy to hospitals, nursing homes and schools in metro Detroit.

March 21, Pet-A-Pet volunteers went to Farmington Public Schools and visited Cloverdale School, which houses a program for severely impaired children. The students, ages 2½ to 26, are divided by age and disabilities into eight classrooms.

“A lot of the kids have sensory behaviors and require an excessive amount of stimulation,” said Lauren Krawec, an occupational therapist at Cloverdale for 12 years. “The dogs bring a very calming aspect to them.”

Cloverdale collaborates with parents and caregivers in creating a positive learning environment for students.

According to a Pet-A-Pet newsletter, the benefits of animal-facilitated therapy include: lowering blood pressure, relieving depression, providing sensory stimulation, facilitating conversation during and after visits, stimulating laughter, increasing morale, offering an outlet for emotional expression and providing a feeling of being loved and accepted.

Therapy dogs are required to be friendly and allow strangers to touch their ears, paws and tail. They must be able to walk on a leash without struggling, have a clean appearance and be non-aggressive towards other dogs. Signs for disqualification include excessive jumping and growling.

The Pet-A-Pet program began in 1986 with a handful of members and since then has grown to more than 300 volunteers. Pet-A-Pet members receive a red scarf, newsletters throughout the year and educate the public about the health benefits of the human-animal bond.

For a slide show of the March 21 visit to Cloverdale School, please click here. 
Tweet

Gabriella Bendtsen and Dana Baird, both 9, giggle as they ask each other how their day is going.  They introduce themselves, say please and thank you, and are learning how to count — all in Mandarin Chinese.

Bendtsen and Baird are fourth-graders at Adams Elementary School in the Waterford School District where Mandarin Chinese is part of the curriculum.

Children in grades second through fifth attend language classes one to two days a week where they are introduced to the different tones of Mandarin, basic conversation and are given an appreciation of Chinese culture.  The district has one Mandarin Chinese teacher who travels from school to school teaching classes.

With an increasing globalized society, educators and parents are beginning to embrace the opportunity to introduce children to foreign languages at younger ages.

Elementary schools are becoming a popular avenue to teach children the basics of foreign language instead of the traditional middle or high schools.

“Our job is to prepare kids for the 21^st century and these are 21^st century skills,” said Lynn Bigelman, principal at Adams.   “[Language] is not difficult for a child to understand.  They don’t have the mental blocks adults have, they have a thirst for knowledge. It excites them.”

The ability to speak multiple languages is a skill that is becoming increasingly attractive to potential employers. Individuals that are introduced to a foreign language at a younger age have a greater ability to retain the language and speak it with more near-native speaking fluency.

“When you start learning a language as an adult, you read it like English and put in your own perception,” said Claudia DeOrio, Macomb/Oakland bilingual area manager for Futura Language Professionals.  “(Kids) have an easier time mimicking and repeating a word the proper way.”

Learning a foreign language at an early age also can give students an advantage in future education.  Language skills are thought to help children develop memory, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, tools that can be utilized in almost every school subject.

“(Kids’) minds are like little sponges, they absorb everything,” Bigelman said.

School districts educate students in different languages including Spanish, Chinese and Korean. Some districts, such as Farmington and Novi, offer exploratory programs that give students a brief introduction to languages including French, Chinese, German and Spanish.

Some districts in the county that do not offer language instruction during the day utilize after-school programs. Futura Language Professionals, a Spanish-language program, currently holds nine after-school classes in four school districts, three of which do not host language courses during the day.

Oakland County mandates that by 2016, all graduating seniors must receive two credits of the same foreign language.

Students with previous language instruction have an opportunity to further develop their understanding of the language. Many high schools offer testing for advanced high school students to receive college credit.

Bigelman said parents and students at Adams have been supportive of the programs and hopes the language curriculum can grow.

“I like always learning new languages, and I think seeing some things they learn and do in China is cool,” said Baird.Tweet