This week sees the publication of a new report into languages in America “America’s Languages. Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century.”
ALL’s Chair of Trustees, René Koglbauer, strongly recommends reading this and at the very least, the executive summary!
“The report states some fairly obvious points, including the importance of languages for business and international relations, and that learning a second language results in greater learning outcomes in other subjects. The report highlights a number of issues, with which we in the UK are very familiar too; qualified teacher recruitment is one of the major contributing factors for the decline of language learning, the report finds. The key recommendations include approaches on how to increase the pool of language teachers at all levels and how schools and public/private partners should be working together to increase the language provision in and for the country. Learning and internship opportunities abroad are other recommendations worth noting. The report also includes key recommendations for heritage languages and a recommendation to provide targeted support for Native American languages.”
If you would like to find out more details, you can read the report here.