Most people who have watched preschool cartoons recently may have noticed the push toward raising bilingual children. Shows such as Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer and Disney's Handy Manny, demonstrate a cultural push toward a nation of many languages, but most notably English and Spanish. This is a complete departure from the environment in which I was raised. Foreign languages weren't even thought of until high school. Now preschoolers are given the ability to know both languages' versions of many different words and concepts. This is a cultural shift and a way to teach children tolerance. All languages and cultures are to be embraced. Whether people agree with this shift or not there seems to be little choice but to accept it.
It is interesting to note that not too long ago Congress was trying to pass into law that English be the official language of the United States. If the debate plays out for a few more years as the "Dora Generation" ages they will most likely feel there is little need to name an official language as they have grown up surrounded by different languages.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
This reminds me of this little girl I know. Her parents are teaching her American Sign Language along with English. She's only about 18 months old. It is said that teaching children to sign will help their communication skills when they get older.
Sesame street has been teaching Spanish since I can remember and I am 33. I learned agua is water before I started kindergarten!
Many of you may not know this but it is easier to teach kids multiple languages than adults. This is especially true of Americans because of the fact that the American language is so unreasonably hard to explain and follow.
Think about this, one Goose, two Geese. One Moose, two Meese. That does not even follow.
Another slight tidbit, arithmatic is actually easier to teach to adults. It seems as though we have our current education system ass backwards.
I had a very hard time with spanish in high school, I still can't speak it. I love that my daughter can learn it in a fun way... until she starts talking to me in spanish and i have no clue what shes saying.
I think the push for learning foreign languages at a young age is good, but it seems like it's mostly just focused on Spanish. I think they should come out with more kid's shows with other languages. Sure, most people end up taking Spanish as their foreign language requirement, but perhaps if they created shows with French or Japanese (for example) it would create more diversity.
Post a Comment