Bilingual Madness

STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHERINE HUNTER

We take a foreign language every year for middle school and high school. And each year that language is Spanish. I truthfully love Spanish, but I can barely speak it. It came to me that we need to switch it up. I want more language classes at Tech Prep. I want a variety of cultures to be infused in our curriculum.  Foreign language is  not getting the credit that it deserves.  I talked to some students and found out that I’m not the only one who feels that way.

According to Sabrina Lyles, freshman at Tech Prep, “I believe we should take another class for foreign languages other than Spanish. I want to learn Mandarin or an African language.”  

We want to have a variety of languages to stimulate our  knowledge.

Euniqua Fredericks, also a Freshman, says, “I want to learn how to speak Chinese.”  

Other schools have many foreign language clubs. At Tech Prep, we  don’t have any clubs to promote bilingual opportunities. We don’t encourage students to do more than expected.  Most likely, students won’t feel like coming after school. That’s why we should have more language classes—not just Spanish.

Students are not the only population who notice this problem. Mr. Torres, our Spanish teacher at Tech Prep says his students are somewhat tired of learning Spanish. “They see it [Spanish] every year,” Torres says. “They are positive toward learning, but they take Spanish every year.”  

Torres also believes that Spanish and any other foreign language should be taught during a longer time period. “Spanish shouldn’t be taught in  “shoulder-periods”.  The class should take longer than 45 minutes,” Mr. Torres says.

Now, I haven’t forgotten about Spanish. I still love Spanish and I want to learn it completely. But I believe it’s time that other people get a chance to learn their preferred language as well. I propose that we make  a club for people who want to further their knowledge of Spanish. Mr.Torres  says he would sponsor  the club.

I believe that we can move toward better representation of foreign languages at Tech Prep. What do you think? Answer our poll for the entrance of another language into our curriculum.

Katherine Hunter is a Freshman at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.