One thing most Americans struggle with is understanding new languages after speaking English for so long. A solution to this problem is to begin teaching new languages at a younger age, rather than waiting until high school or even college to introduce the topic. 

Everyone should learn new languages, it allows you to have a better grasp on culture around the world and improves your overall global knowledge. 

As a high school student who is enrolled in Spanish 2, I genuinely think if I had started learning it in elementary or middle school I would have had a much easier time understanding the Spanish language and culture. 

I really lucked out as far as my personal experiences go with learning a second language. I took Spanish 1, 2 and am currently considering Spanish 3. (My goal is to be able to speak Spanish fluently and possibly learn another language.) I had a great teacher who speaks Spanish fluently and truly understands his students and their ability to learn a language. 

I really do love learning a language, I find it extremely fascinating and I think everyone should at least try to learn a second language. While I can’t yet speak Spanish fluently, I will continue to work at learning the language. I want to travel the world and my knowledge of other languages will certainly help improve my experiences while traveling.

Schools need to do a better job of introducing languages at a younger grade level. Many non-English speaking students are beginning to join United States public schools. If most students already know a second language, it can improve the overall environment of schools for ELL students. 

If students learned other languages besides English earlier in their academic careers they could better communicate and understand ELL students. 

The golden rule states, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” and if you put yourself in the shoes of an student who cannot speak English, it would create empathy in the halls. All of sudden you’re forced to leave your home country and join a huge public school of over 2,000 students. Imagine how scared those students are. Wouldn’t you want someone to talk to or for someone to even make a gesture as small as a friendly smile? At least understanding how difficult it is to learn a new language creates empathy in our building.