After taking 4 years of a foreign language in high school, the best advice that I could give to high school students is to keep practicing previous information. Whatever you learned in one semester, review it the next semester, as well as during the summer. As for the French language itself, I highly recommend knowing conversational French for any career field, but especially in business, law, and government. Also, it is very interesting to learn about other cultures. College foreign language is similar to high school, except that it moves at a far more rapid pace and involves more interpretation of the written language. In regards to the teaching of high school foreign language, I think that there should be more emphasis on listening and speaking than on grammar because it will be more helpful in the fast-paced college curriculum.
A lot of high school students think that, especially less known languages like French, German, Italian, etc. are useless skills. However studying a language after high school can be very beneficial. In a language course you aren't just learning how to speak and read and write but also about that culture. You can learn so much just by taking the class that can help you identify yourself more But also there can be a huge benefit in the workplace. Commonly a lot of people think to take Spanish, which is great. But other languages can be beneficial as well. I have taken a foreign language for 8 years but I learned the most from my 4 years in college and this is going to set me apart from other people going into my field. Another thing to prepare kids for is the difference between high school and college in terms of foreign language. College is much more comprehensive, conversational, writing, reading, grammar. It is more encompassing than high school (as close as you can get to immersion without going to the actual country.) Like I said I learned more in a couple of years in college than all 4 years in high school just because of the atmosphere of a college level language course.
In my opinion the biggest key to success in studying any language is making sure you're fully committed to working on it every single day if you actually want to see meaningful progress in developing your proficiency. Unlike a lot of other academic fields, dare i say even most of them, the usual strategy of neglecting to think about it until the day before an exam or a quiz is extremely detrimental to retaining the necessary information to succeed. Certainly, cramming to retain word definitions and so forth will absolutely allow you to skate through and probably even achieve a reasonable grade; but unlike many other disciplines, measuring your ability by that metric alone is rather shortsighted and prevents you from getting the most out of the time you put in. If you actually desire to be able to speak, read and write the language of your choosing, the little and often approach to studying and practicing is definitely far superior to ten hours the day before your next assessment; it helps you properly retain little pieces of information at a time and makes it far easier to seamlessly integrate them into your existing pool of knowledge when it comes to constructing your own sentences or understanding other peoples speech. From my experience, trying to do too much at once just leads to confusion and inevitably frustration.
One thing that I hear a lot from my family and family friends is that they wished that they took up a language as at least a minor in college. It doesn't really matter the language, but just to have that background information is something important that managers and CEOs are now looking for when they interview candidates for jobs. If there are two candidates with similar backgrounds, but one has a minor in a language while the other doesn't, the one with the minor is considered more valuable for the company/business/job. Another piece of advice that I could give is that they should take at least one foreign language class a semester or at least a year to keep up with that language and not lose it. Personally, that's why I switched my French minor to a major. If I left it a minor, I would be done this semester and then have two more years at school without taking a class. I love the culture and the language too much to risk losing anything that I've already gained from my classes, and I'm excited to learn even more. Another example I have is with my mom. She took Spanish in high school, but not college. She's been a nurse since graduating in 1986, and the one thing that I repeatedly hear her say is that she took up Spanish as well to help communicate with her Spanish speaking patients. She really wants to help them out, but she gets frustrated when she's not able to have them understand how they need to take their medication. All in all, learning a language is not just a gen-ed that you need to take in high school or college for two years to just be eligible for graduation. Instead, those two years should be seen as an introduction of what should be seen as an opportunity to better yourself and make you that much more valuable in the future.
As a student that did not take a language in high school, it was one of my biggest regrets when coming to college. I think that taking a language in high school would have benefited me when coming to college. Since taking a language this past year for the first time I wished that I would have started sooner. I think it would have pushed me more to explore studying abroad and trying different things. I have pushed my siblings into taking languages in high school because I know it will benefit them in the long run. I also have enjoyed the atmosphere of the French class that I am taking and wish that I could continue with the program but I started a little too late. I would tell anyone who is even has the smallest interested in a language to try it out, you never know where it could take you. And make sure you do it before its too late.
Studying language in college for me is something I do for the fun of it. And although it may be hard at times, it is a really nice break and gear-change from classes related to my major. It works a completely different part of my brain and challenges me to think differently than I normally would. I think prospective college students should know that it is a great way to learn anything, because it makes you re-learn how to do things just in a different language. That is a great skill to have! And of course the longterm and professional benefits--great workout for your brain in the future and it looks great on a resume.
I started off my college career just a French minor. After a few amazing professors I changed it to a major and I have never been happier. Most of the time I enjoy my french class exponentially more than my classes for my first major. Taking french has helped me grow as a person. I was able to study abroad which helped but even more than that learning in depth about another culture has really helped learn how to interact from someone from another culture and become friends with them. I now have, not only French friends but Polish, German, Spanish, and Brazilian friends all because French sparked my interest in cultures other than my own. My advice to students is never be afraid to continue with your language. For some you are almost done with your minors, or you are done, so you might tend to drop it aside. But don't. Even if it's just with the peers in your classes chat on Facebook or text them in your language. Email your teacher, do anything you can to not lose what you have worked so hard to accomplish.
After taking 4 years of a foreign language in high school, the best advice that I could give to high school students is to keep practicing previous information. Whatever you learned in one semester, review it the next semester, as well as during the summer. As for the French language itself, I highly recommend knowing conversational French for any career field, but especially in business, law, and government. Also, it is very interesting to learn about other cultures. College foreign language is similar to high school, except that it moves at a far more rapid pace and involves more interpretation of the written language. In regards to the teaching of high school foreign language, I think that there should be more emphasis on listening and speaking than on grammar because it will be more helpful in the fast-paced college curriculum.
RépondreSupprimerA lot of high school students think that, especially less known languages like French, German, Italian, etc. are useless skills. However studying a language after high school can be very beneficial. In a language course you aren't just learning how to speak and read and write but also about that culture. You can learn so much just by taking the class that can help you identify yourself more But also there can be a huge benefit in the workplace. Commonly a lot of people think to take Spanish, which is great. But other languages can be beneficial as well. I have taken a foreign language for 8 years but I learned the most from my 4 years in college and this is going to set me apart from other people going into my field. Another thing to prepare kids for is the difference between high school and college in terms of foreign language. College is much more comprehensive, conversational, writing, reading, grammar. It is more encompassing than high school (as close as you can get to immersion without going to the actual country.) Like I said I learned more in a couple of years in college than all 4 years in high school just because of the atmosphere of a college level language course.
RépondreSupprimerIn my opinion the biggest key to success in studying any language is making sure you're fully committed to working on it every single day if you actually want to see meaningful progress in developing your proficiency. Unlike a lot of other academic fields, dare i say even most of them, the usual strategy of neglecting to think about it until the day before an exam or a quiz is extremely detrimental to retaining the necessary information to succeed. Certainly, cramming to retain word definitions and so forth will absolutely allow you to skate through and probably even achieve a reasonable grade; but unlike many other disciplines, measuring your ability by that metric alone is rather shortsighted and prevents you from getting the most out of the time you put in. If you actually desire to be able to speak, read and write the language of your choosing, the little and often approach to studying and practicing is definitely far superior to ten hours the day before your next assessment; it helps you properly retain little pieces of information at a time and makes it far easier to seamlessly integrate them into your existing pool of knowledge when it comes to constructing your own sentences or understanding other peoples speech. From my experience, trying to do too much at once just leads to confusion and inevitably frustration.
RépondreSupprimerOne thing that I hear a lot from my family and family friends is that they wished that they took up a language as at least a minor in college. It doesn't really matter the language, but just to have that background information is something important that managers and CEOs are now looking for when they interview candidates for jobs. If there are two candidates with similar backgrounds, but one has a minor in a language while the other doesn't, the one with the minor is considered more valuable for the company/business/job. Another piece of advice that I could give is that they should take at least one foreign language class a semester or at least a year to keep up with that language and not lose it. Personally, that's why I switched my French minor to a major. If I left it a minor, I would be done this semester and then have two more years at school without taking a class. I love the culture and the language too much to risk losing anything that I've already gained from my classes, and I'm excited to learn even more. Another example I have is with my mom. She took Spanish in high school, but not college. She's been a nurse since graduating in 1986, and the one thing that I repeatedly hear her say is that she took up Spanish as well to help communicate with her Spanish speaking patients. She really wants to help them out, but she gets frustrated when she's not able to have them understand how they need to take their medication.
RépondreSupprimerAll in all, learning a language is not just a gen-ed that you need to take in high school or college for two years to just be eligible for graduation. Instead, those two years should be seen as an introduction of what should be seen as an opportunity to better yourself and make you that much more valuable in the future.
As a student that did not take a language in high school, it was one of my biggest regrets when coming to college. I think that taking a language in high school would have benefited me when coming to college. Since taking a language this past year for the first time I wished that I would have started sooner. I think it would have pushed me more to explore studying abroad and trying different things. I have pushed my siblings into taking languages in high school because I know it will benefit them in the long run. I also have enjoyed the atmosphere of the French class that I am taking and wish that I could continue with the program but I started a little too late. I would tell anyone who is even has the smallest interested in a language to try it out, you never know where it could take you. And make sure you do it before its too late.
RépondreSupprimerStudying language in college for me is something I do for the fun of it. And although it may be hard at times, it is a really nice break and gear-change from classes related to my major. It works a completely different part of my brain and challenges me to think differently than I normally would. I think prospective college students should know that it is a great way to learn anything, because it makes you re-learn how to do things just in a different language. That is a great skill to have!
RépondreSupprimerAnd of course the longterm and professional benefits--great workout for your brain in the future and it looks great on a resume.
From Caitlin Nagel (French, Class of 2014)
RépondreSupprimerI started off my college career just a French minor. After a few amazing professors I changed it to a major and I have never been happier. Most of the time I enjoy my french class exponentially more than my classes for my first major. Taking french has helped me grow as a person. I was able to study abroad which helped but even more than that learning in depth about another culture has really helped learn how to interact from someone from another culture and become friends with them. I now have, not only French friends but Polish, German, Spanish, and Brazilian friends all because French sparked my interest in cultures other than my own. My advice to students is never be afraid to continue with your language. For some you are almost done with your minors, or you are done, so you might tend to drop it aside. But don't. Even if it's just with the peers in your classes chat on Facebook or text them in your language. Email your teacher, do anything you can to not lose what you have worked so hard to accomplish.