59. Is Elementary School too Early to Teach Foreign Languages?
The Five-Minute Linguist - Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages Third Edition - Caroline Myrick
Gladys C. Lipton [+ ]
National FLES* Institute
Gladys Lipton is the Director of America’s National FLES* Institute, and serves as a consultant to schools, school Districts and other agencies. She has directed national teacher development institutes at the University of Maryland. Her past leadership positions include Program Coordinator in Foreign Languages and ESOL for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, and Director of Foreign Languages for the New York City Public Schools. Dr. Lipton has served as Editor of the newsletter of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She has chaired the national FLES* committees of both the AATSP and the AATF. She has also served as an Associate Editor of the AATSP journal Hispania, and as national president of the AATF. She has received many awards for her work in the profession, including ACTFL’s Steiner Leadership Award and, in 2010, the award of Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, from the French government. In 2015, she was awarded the Médaille de Mérite from La Renaissance Française.
Description
This chapter provides answers to the question in the title of this chapter in the form of updated research, and major trends. The new trends include 1) creating opportunities for reaching parents and the public, 2) establishing curriculum proficiency/performance language activities that are content-based or content-related, 3) addressing the issue of teacher shortages at this level, 4) creating appropriate student and program assessments and 5) addressing the growth of dual language or bilingual education, all in the context of defining and exploring the goals of elementary school foreign language programs in today’s and tomorrow’s schools.