Most of the schools that I attended bad excellent programs and instructors. Unfortunately, at one school this was not the case. The foreign language program there needed both better planning and better instructors. If I could, I would make changes in three major areas.
The first step would be to offer third and fourth year language classes. This particular school had no language programs above the second year level. Students who started language classes in the first year ran out of classes to talk by the time they were halfway through the school. This was frustrating for those of us who loved learning languages. It also had bad affects when we tried to resume language studies in college after a two-year break.
Next, the foreign language program should be staffed with well-trained instructors. The current teachers in the program don’t speak the languages well enough. In our classes teachers frequently made errors while the students repeated. If the teachers were well-trained, they would be good models for the students.
Finally, the materials in the language courses should be updated. They need to use modern technology. Even though the school has a computer laboratory, our language class never used it. We were limited to using the assigned textbook. If software was available, the students could search the Internet for current, real-life materials, such as newspapers from other countries.
Understanding people from other countries depends on being able to communicate with them. Poor language instruction makes this impossible. Improving the foreign language program would really make a difference to the students of the school. |
