Transcriber: Faith Chen Reviewer: Alina Siluyanova
Hello, my name is Tharessa Kehl.
I am from James W. Mitchell High School.
And today, I will be speaking to you about the need
for early second language exposure.
But before I get into all of that,
I would like to ask you all a couple of questions.
By a show of hands,
how many of us have taken a foreign language during high school?
So, pretty much all of us.
Now, raise your hand again
if you've taken more than two years of that language.
Good amount. OK.
Now, last question.
Please raise your hand
if you feel that you have gained fluency in that language.
No one.
These results are directly correlating
to the issue I'll be speaking about today.
In today's globally interconnected society
it's becoming increasingly important to learn multiple languages.
Thus, the school systems have instituted foreign language curriculums
in most of the nations' public schools.
However, as you've just shown, these methods are not efficient.
Also supporting this claim is the fact
that according to the general social survey,
only around 0.07% of students learn their second language during high school.
With such abysmal results,
it's no wonder why people are starting to question
the importance of foreign language learning.
However, research has shown
that learning a second language
increases your cognitive abilities,
multitasking skills, and has also been linked
to the delay in onset of mental degenerative diseases
such as Alzheimer's.
Not only this, but the use ability
to communicate in other languages
is pivotal in the US's ability to maintain its position
on the global market.
With this information, we can conclude
that the problem lies not in the concept
rather these methods we go about applying it.
Therefore, the solution becomes
to institute mandatory foreign education programs,
from grades kindergartens to twelve.
By extending the period of exposure
and focusing on the listening, speaking,
and comprehension abilities of our students,
we are able to let them learn in a more natural way,
and let them be continually exposed to this language,
which simulates a type of emergent effect.
Also, by taking advantage of a young age, we're able to take advantage
of the increased cerebral plasticity of the brain.
The areas highlighted in the brain
show the regions associated with language learning.
At a younger age, these regions
are increasingly more susceptible to external stimuli,
and therefore it makes the learning process a bit easier.
Also, going along with this, is the idea
of a critical period hypothesis,
which is that there's a period in a child's life,
usually all the way up until before puberty,
in which children are able to learn languages more efficiently.
This is due to the lack of cerebral lateralization in the brain,
which is, for another words, language dominance.
They are not having to constantly filter the new language
through their mother tongue.
Also, due to a more flexible state of the brain,
the younger children are able to mimic and hear different sounds
enabling them to create more native-like pronunciation.
As research showed, that tracked US immigrants,
that the younger the child came into the United Sates,
the more natural and the more native-like their pronunciation was.
They also saw an increase in the proficiency of the language.
With this being said, we can conclude
that the United States school system
has to rearrange the way they look at foreign language learning.
We need to put in new systems that start in grades kindergartens
and go all the way through twelve,
in order to maximize the potential of our nation's youth.
We need to increase the number
of bilingual and multilingual students in the nation,
in order to create a more globalized and connected society.
So, I'll leave you guys with a quote,
"The limits of your language are the limits of your world."
How many languages are you willing to learn?
How far are you willing to limit your world?
Thank you.
(Applause)