Florida Senator Les Miller has proposed a bill that would require all students in the state from grades K – 2 have mandatory Spanish lessons starting in 2007.

First of all, I think this is a great idea. The article goes on to outline that the bill doesn’t really show where the money or the teachers would come from – that the idea is cool, but no one is sure how to implement it.

Speaking as someone that grew up completely monolingual – it is a pain in the butt to learn another language as an adult. The only way I ever accomplished it was through necessity when I lived in Mexico…and it still took me a year before I could speak it. I’m a big supporter of learning languages while you’re too young to have to think about it.

Looking for different points of view on the subject, I found some chatter about this article on Modern Tribalist, which introduced me to a site called English First. Wow, there really are people out there that are really mad about this whole Spanish thing, huh? I’ve got a lot of personal views on this topic, but I guess everyone has a right to their own opinion.

I’ll be watching for news on this bill. It seems to me that if funding isn’t figured out, it might be destined to fail. The other thing that caught my eye when reviewing the article is the word “mandatory”. There are probably parents out there that agree with the thoughts of groups like English First. Will they have a hissy-fit? Do they have a right to? In high school, a second language is usually required, although students typically have a choice of languages.

For the most part, I would think that Spanish classes for the young children would be received very well by parents. Just look at these families that buy bilingual toys for their kids, or even hire a nanny that speaks a different language, just so that the children will learn without really trying.

I’ll finish this off with a joke I’ve heard a couple of times before. There is a group of American tourists fresh off of a cruise ship. They are travelling on a bus to see the Mayan pyramids in Mexico. Their Mexican tour guide is chatting with them and says, “How do you call a person that can speak three languages?”. A guy a couple of rows back shouts out, “Trilingual.” “Ahh,” says the tour guide. “So how do you call someone who speaks two languages?” he asks. “Bilingual!”, says just about everyone on the bus. “Oh, ok, so how do you call someone that only speaks one language?” says the tour guide with a smile and with a pause for the punchline, he answers his own question, “American”!

I wish I spoke more than 2 languages. It can only open up the world – I can’t see any downside. I have friends that speak 5 languages. What a gift their families gave them.

Tampa Tribune
Via / HispanicTips.com
CBS has a great take on this: Must Everyone Speak English?>