The Concordia program, established in the 1960s, offers classes to campers from ages 7 to 18 in 13 other languages, including Arabic, Japanese and Finnish. It’s exactly the kind of instruction that many educators advocate for all American kids. But despite a post-9/11 call for more public-school language classes, especially in Arabic and Chinese, too few students venture beyond English. “A lot of school administrators and principals are feeling under such pressure to improve their test scores in reading, English and math that they are dropping foreign-language instruction,” says Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign-language education at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), a nonprofit group. A 2004 report by the Council of Chief School State Officers found that only 14 states require a foreign language for high-school graduation.
Learning another language takes many years, and educators say the key is getting to kids early so they have more time to develop proficiency and feel comfortable with speaking and thinking in something other than English. There have been a few hopeful signs. Last year the Department of Defense, as part of the National Security Education Program (aimed at strengthening foreign-language skills), funded a kindergarten-through-college curriculum in Portland, Ore.; similar efforts are underway in Ohio and Michigan.
But it’s clearly not enough. Many foreign-language educators want more of a push from Washington. “The U.S. is the only developed country that does not have a consistent policy of language instruction in the early grades,” says Christine Schulze, executive director and CEO of Concordia Language Villages. Educators also argue for efforts to cultivate kids who are gifted in languages, just as the Intel Science Talent Search rewards budding physicists. A little nurturing indeed helps. Concordia camper Natalie Morin, 14, of Palo Alto, Calif., has been studying French in school for 11 years and Chinese for three. Now, she says, “a lot of Asian languages interest me, like Japanese. I’m also thinking about Arabic.” That’s heartening news in any language.
