Why do we have so many students failing or struggling with their first Spanish class?

I taught Spanish 1 in a middle school for seven years and Spanish 1 in a public high school for several years. I have never seen so many students failing or struggling to pass a level 1 language class across different school counties.


After many years of observing this trend, I started asking myself, why do we have so many students failing or struggling with their first Spanish class? I came to the conclusion that our students have built two barriers in their mind: The negative stereotype against certain Spanish-speaking, minority groups; and the lack of language classes at early age.

We have to educate our children about the importance of learning a second language, especially Spanish. We have 392 million Spanish-speaking people in 22 countries in the world. Even though the U.S is not part of this group, the U.S has almost 45 million Spanish-speaking people making it the number three in the world, just after Mexico and Colombia. This means, we have more Spanish-speaking people in the U.S than the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries.

By 2050 the largest economies in the world will be as follows: China, United States (Spanish spoken by the majority), India, Brazil (Spanish spoken by all), and Mexico (Spanish only); Business magazine.

We don’t have control over the globalization trends, but we do have control over helping our children to get the language classes at early age.

Our goal in World Language is to help your children to be successful in their language journey. We help them to develop their listening and speaking abilities with games, music, art, and hands-on activities; in addition, we have created a new two-hour program to prepare your 4th and 5th graders. This class will help your children with reading, writing and grammar, so they are not part of the failing or struggling groups later on their academic life. We hope to motivate them enough so they want to continue their studies of a second language until they actually become bilingual.

We live in a small world now; our children will have to compete with students all over the world. Don’t wait until is too late.

Bilingualism vs monolingualism

By every language you learn, a new world is opened before you. It is like being born again and new ideas break up the mind with all the freshness and delight with which we may suppose the first dawn of the intellect to be accompanied.


The knowledge of other language gives a better insight into human relations and a deeper appreciation of man's struggles and achievements.

5 biggest mistakes parents make when trying to raise bilingual kids

1. Expect their children to learn a second language within 6 months or less; when it takes up to seven years of fully immersion.
2. Pull out their children from their bilingual education because they don't see immediate results.
3. Don't encourage their children to read or practice their second language at home. There are so many online resources that parents don't even need to be bilingual themselves.
4. Deny reality. Our children will have to compete with companies and/or employees all over the world and educated people everywhere else in the world speak at least 2 languages.
5. Don't realize than education is a long term investment, not a temporary expenditure

Remember second language acquisition takes time

Remember second language acquisition takes time. You will not see results right away, but by having your child listening and practicing a foreign language at least once a week, you are extending their critical period for learning a second language, and most importantly they are acquiring the ability to speak the language without or almost no foreign accent . Older learners would not reach this native-like speaking level.

“The Critical Period Hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language. If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language.”

Do you want your child to be bilingual?

It is important to understand the challenges and the process of learning a second language, so we can make the right choice as a parent and as a supporter of our child’s new journey.
How do we teach our classes and why?

Students learn new vocabulary and sentence structure using small felt figures, gestures, songs, games, and hands-on activities. These activities have been piloted with positive results on children for many years, once-per-week session giving us astonishing results with the students who stay in the program for at least one year.

This method of vocabulary learning turns classroom into a positive and fun learning experience. It follows the natural approach to learning a second language by providing the students with real-life experiences geared to learning vocabulary in a meaningful context, making language both more significant and more memorable. It also encourages the students to be active, enthusiastic and animated. Materials are presented in a simple comprehensible way.

The first activity is the introduction of new vocabulary with flashcards, felt animals, or toys. This activity promotes forming a mental picture of what it is said. Students learn from the very beginning to think in the foreign language; thus, avoiding translation. Then, the teacher asks the students to repeat the vocabulary and later integrates the same vocabulary in a song. The second activity consists of games. The teacher has at least three different games that relate to the same theme. The third activity involves children working individually doing exercises with paper, crayons, glue, and/or scissors. 

This communicative approach provides a language-learning environment free of anxiety.
 
Read more about how you can help your child to be successful on his new journey to learning a second language at http://www.wlispeak.org/parents.html

Don't give up

We are continuously hearing from parents who are concerned that their children are not learning anything in our once-a-week class. I have been teaching for over 12 years PK-12. I have seen the time it takes the students to be bilingual, as well as the process, and the frustration they have to go through in the middle and high school when they bombarded with the heavy grammar.

When I was teaching 6th grade, I noticed that the students who were exposed at least once-a-week to a language class throughout the elementary years were able to understand their new language much easier. They were not feeling frustrated or defeated because they couldn't understand their teacher. They had a window already opened in their mind, ready to absorb the new concepts. Most of the students who dropped out of Spanish were never exposed to a second language during their elementary years. They switch to different languages thinking that it will be easier, and in the end they quit their language class after the 2nd year, barely covering the minimal college requirement for admission. They give up their bilingual aspirations.

We have to remember that it takes many years of repetition to learn a second language, the same repetition we see in the math classes. I believe math and second languages follow the same pattern and process. They build on from year to year, and they require a lot of practice and repetition. I understand this process as a teacher and as an English student myself. I have never stopped learning my second language. Celia

Welcome parents

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