Annotation # 5

Our gloabal success depends on language<>

Nowadays the Internet erods geographical boundaries and our world shrinks, the ability to speak another language is no longer a plus on the resume, it is a necessity. Many U.S. companies also understand that a multilingual workforce is the only way they can compete abroad, so they send employees to language schools. English still seems to as the "language of opportunity" which may explain why some of Americans thinksit is not important to learn another language than English.President Bush"s bipartisan commisssion reported that if we want to be globally competent, we need to start by having more college students study abroad. The Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program's goal is 1 million students studying abroad by 2017.

Annotation #5

Sutdents taking strides in froeign languages

More college students are studying foreign languages than ever before. In 2002 over 53% of the total language enrollments was Spanish. Enrollments in general have increased, including German and French. And 148 less commonly taught languages were being sutdies in 2002, compared with 137 in 1998, an 8% increase. Students recognize the importance of learning other languages as we become a more global society. In all, 1.4 million students took a foreign language course last fall at U.S. colleges and universities, the highest number ever recorded and a 17.9% increase since 1998. In comparison, ungraduate enrollment increased 7.5% in that period.

Annotation #3

Bringing up a child billingual

Jayme Simoes' mother is American and his father is from Portugal. He was born in Portugal and lived there for his first year of his life and became fluent in Portuguese. But after that they moved back to the United States of America and English dominated his daily life. For three years he had lost almost his whole Portuguese.But after only spending somes summers in Portugal with his grandparents, he regained it again. Now married and proud father of Marcus, Simoes is raising his child billingual.

At least 10 million school-aged live in homes where family members speak a language other than English, the Departments of Education reports. But raising a child billingual is not that easy as it sounds, you must have specific ideas about what you want your child to be able to do in both languages. You aslso should avoid mixing languages, so children will hear each tongue in pure form. Some families decide to speak English at home and the other language everywhere else.

Annotation #2

As globalization goes on it seems more and more that we have one common language. The spread throughout the globe is also known as " unique in the history of world". English has nowadays more non-native speakers than native ones.

Facts about English
*Out of five people worldwide speaks English to some level of competence.
*More than two-thirds of the world's scientists read in English

Another Annotation

I have been teaching for twenty-two years and there has not been a year, where parents have not requested to have their children learn a second language in Middle school. We have bombs for Iraq, but we don’t have money for education. I remember when I started the class sizes were down to 25, nowadays I have 40 to 45 students sitting in my class. I think I don’t have to explain that this is a big distraction for some of the kids. If you looked at the class sizes in Europe it seems that you are on a whole different planet. Culture plays a big part. Europeans are anxious to learn another language. It is so easy for them to travel around and speak another language. For us Americans it is quite hard, all we have really close is Canada and Mexico. That’s why I really recommend the trips that we organize for kids. It is so important to go to a country where the language is spoken. That is the only way you really get better at languages. Besides to the low class sizes in Europe the behavior of students is another factor that makes the difference. It seems to me that we have to deal here with so much behavior issues that seem not to exist in the good old Europe. Well and another thing that does not exist in Europe is after-school-activities. Sports here are a big part of a teenager’s life here. I have at least two to five students per trimester who give me excuses that they weren’t able to do their homework or to study because they had a game the day before. Motivation and the attitude to education are way lower here in the United States. Politicians do a lot of “lip-service”. They say that Education is more important than Sports but look at it. We all know it is not true. Americans are not really forced to learn another language. The media is mostly in English. Pop culture is mostly in English. Remember when we banned German as a world language after WWII. Man, that was a mistake! There is no such thing as permanent Allies only permanent interest.

Annotation #1

LOST IN AMERICA

If you speak two languages, then you are bilingual. Speak one? You
must be American. Globalization has brought a lot of changes and
trends to America. But through all those chance
that globalization has brought to America the average classroom has lagged
behind. In the late 1940's, more than 90 percent of kids who studied a
foreign language learned French, Spanish, or Latin. At the end of the century,
that figure remained the same. At least two decades after politcal
scientists that China would be the next world's power, only a little more than
1,300 public high school students studied Chinese. Instead of learning
Arabic languanges, 175,000 students have learned Latin instead. In 2000 two
thirds of American students never studied a second language.

Annotation #1

LOST IN AMERICA

If you speak two languages, then you are bilingual. Speak one? You
must be American. Globalization has brought a lot of changes and
trends to America. But through all those chance
that globalization has brought to America the average classroom has lagged
behind. In the late 1940's, more than 90 percent of kids who studied a
foreign language learned French, Spanish, or Latin. At the end of the century,
that figure remained the same. At least two decades after politcal
scientists that China would be the next world's power, only a little more than
1,300 public high school students studied Chinese. Instead of learning
Arabic languanges, 175,000 students have learned Latin instead. In 2000 two
thirds of American students never studied a second language.