Learning a second language at a young age

In class this week we discussed the importance and milestones of speech and language development. While I always knew that it is easier for children to learn another language than it is for adults, it amazed me to see graphs and data from the TED Talk that show how difficult learning a language becomes as children get older. The conversations from class made me think, "Why doesn't every elementary school teach students a second language? Why do they wait for middle or high school?"

I work in a public school in D.C. called Shepherd Elementary School. We are an International Baccalaureate school which, in our school, means we try to integrate all of the subject areas and teach children how to live and act globally. In Susan Lang's article, Barbara Lust and Sujin Yang have found that students learn a second language best when the language surrounds them. At Shepherd, students are required to devote a portion of the week to studying French or Spanish in an immersive classroom where the teacher only speaks Spanish or French. While the students at Shepherd do not speak a second language for all, or even half a day, they are able to learn to speak, read, and write in a non-native language. According to Lust and Yang, learning another language will also help with cognitive advantages. " These cognitive advantages can contribute to a child's future academic success."' (Lang, 2009). The students at Shepherd will hopefully be better prepared for the challenges of middle school and high school since they have been exposed to Spanish and French since preschool.

I don't understand why so many school systems wait until middle school to begin teaching a second language. I attended a private Jewish elementary school where I learned Hebrew for a third of the day from kindergarten through fourth grade. I went to public school in fifth grade and I took Spanish beginning in seventh grade and stopped after the required four years. At the time, I didn't realize how beneficial it would be to learn Spanish. I didn't stick with it. Today, while I don't consider myself bilingual, I remember Hebrew much more than Spanish. 

Was it easier for me to learn and remember Hebrew because I was younger and my brain was still developing? Linda Halgunseth discusses in her article that, "'research has found that children who begin to learn a second language before the age of 6 or 7 are more able to speak the new language like a native speaker than children who didn’t start until after ages 6 or 7 (Bongaerts, 2005)"'(Halgunseth 2009). She also explains that research shows that children who learn a second language will eventually outperform their peers who only know one language. Shouldn't every American student begin learning a second language in elementary school when it is more meaningful? Would it help the success of our students in their academics and for their future careers? 

References: 
Halgunseth, Linda. (2010), How children learn a second language [article]. Retrieved from    http://www.education.com/reference/article/how-children-learn-  second-language/?page=2Lang, Susan S. (2009). Learning a second language is good childhood mind medicine, studies find   [article]. Retrieved from http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/05/learning-second-language-good-childhood-mind-medicine