Languages+in+the+News

ACTFL News Articles   (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Marty Abbott, Executive Director for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (Stamford Advocate Online)  "When you expose young children to another language, they really end up with a native pronunciation and intonation, which is harder to develop later on, and it also works a different part of the brain," Abbott said. "We always talk about the cognitive benefit of learning another language at an early age, and there are also academic benefits, like increased proficiency in language arts."

Read more: [|http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Schools-consider-early-language-options-2674027.php#ixzz1kZiIXLoK]

Below is an excerpt from an interview of Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, by the American Council on the Teachers of Foreign Languages. It was originally published in the journal, The Language Educator.

"It is hard to exaggerate the importance of learning about foreign cultures when it comes to understanding international relations and carrying out a sucessful foreign policy...Building or maintaining successful diplomatic or commercial ties also requires insight into other countries. And language is one of the keys to "unlocking" the often hidden or subtle realities of another society. For these and related reasons, the fact that more people than ever before speak English does not diminish the case for Americans learning foreign languages."

Other articles:

@http://www.edutopia.org/global-language-learning http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9218/local.htm

http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_babydvd04.472da43.html

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/415

http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/earlychild.html

http://policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=861&issue_id=42006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39338-2004Jun13.html __