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Endorsements and Testimonials for the Now more than ever, the world needs global leaders who embrace diversity and thrive in international environments. Children enrolled in the Spanish immersion program at Squaw Peak Traditional Academy will gain an important edge over many of their public school peers in Arizona, who typically receive no foreign language instruction until eighth or ninth grade. Foreign language study opens a child’s mind to other cultures and teaches flexibility, humility, tolerance and resourcefulness. While these skills might once have been a luxury, they now are increasingly a necessity in the global marketplace. As someone who was fortunate enough to be raised bilingual and who spent a career teaching a foreign language to university students, I want to express my congratulations to the Squaw Peak Traditional Academy for its recent commitment to begin a second-language immersion program for its elementary-level students in the Fall of 2010. While the practical reasons for learning another language are becoming very evident in our increasingly globalized world, I have always considered doing so as simply intellectually enriching, as mind-opening for our younger students to learn to delight in the different ways human beings in the world conceive of realities and express that conception. If the SPTA program will lead other elementary schools to follow suit, the potential benefit to our state and our nation will be enormous. Children should start learning a foreign language in kindergarten and continue through high school. Learning languages helps increase listening ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking- all of which are thinking processes that increase learning in general. Correlation studies show students who have had several years of foreign language do better on SATs, particularly the verbal part. Research all over the world has repeatedly shown that children in long-term bilingual programs not only develop higher competence in ENGLISH than children in English-only programs but they reach higher academic achievement than children educated in only one language. It has been shown indeed that bilingual education helps the child develop creative thinking-the ability to think and solve problems in ways that are original, flexible, and creative. It also fosters metalinguistic awareness-knowledge of one’s own language(s) and its elements. Bilingual education also leads the child to develop a deeper understanding and retention of academic content, because learning such content in two languages requires more attention and cognitive effort than learning it in just one. A bilingual education is the best investment that parents can make for their children, a gift without price, for which children – as adults – will be forever thankful. I am proud that SPTA is offering a Spanish Immersion program. I have seen in my own life the benefits of being bilingual. Speaking a second language has improved my career while also helping me to better understand the diverse world around me. I only wish I had the opportunity in childhood, when the benefits to problem solving and other cognitive skills are even greater. My colleagues and I on the Creighton Governing Board are excited that SPTA is offering this option to our students. As a member of the community and businessman in the area, I want to congratulate SPTA on having your elementary students learn a second language. In this case the Spanish language is becoming more global, and it is imperative that we prepare our youth to compete. The importance of a second language is vital to our ever-changing world that we live in. I can tell you that in my business career the benefit of being bilingual has been tremendous. I am positive that your students will benefit greatly in learning Spanish as a second language. |
