The Language Craze
Children's programming has just started holding my 7-month old daughter's attention, so we're watching a lot of Nick Jr. lately.
They're awfully proud of their programming being aimed at preschoolers - since they claim it about 3 or 4 times during each break (though I love how the shows are commercial free!).
The other night, we had the television on as background noise from 6-9pm and Nick Jr. aired THREE programs geared toward teaching preschoolers a foreign language. During a break, the narrator urged us to visit their website to play fun games and educational tools, and to brush up on their "spanish." During another break, a voice-over parent brags about how their child is "counting EVERYTHING....in Spanish!"
Is this really necessary for a preschool curriculum? I remember preschool fairly well - ABC, 123, shapes, please and thank you, days of the weeks, months of the year, etc. You know, valuable, basic information we needed for that head-start into Kindergarten. No one ever expected us to know "Como se dice" or "vamanos." (or Ni-Hao, to be fair to that Kai-Lan show)
I don't expect my daughter to have ANY exposure to foreign language in preschool, and not only does Nick Jr. imply that I should, (they should know, they have three shows about it!) but PARENTS are also acting like this is some sort of non-negotiable requirement. I can't even begin to count the number of parents who have bragged to me about their child's spanish skills.
And I realize that a lot of people don't think that it "hurts." Whether its spanish, chinese or pig-latin, at least they're excited about learning, right? Yes, that's partly true. All new information is valuable. There's no harm in your child learning bits and pieces of a foreign language along the way. But I once met a child of about 3 or 4 who could rattle off every spanish color - just shout one out, and he'd reply with the spanish translation. Impressive, right?!
Not when you actually showed him a color. He couldn't tell you that the apple was red, or the banana was yellow. There was no recognition at all, but darn it all if his mother bragged about his "genius" that he knew them in spanish.
I am not suggesting that children should never ever be exposed to different languages. I just don't think that preschool is the appropriate age. During the breaks on Nick Jr., they regularly play puzzle games like, "How many R's can you see in this picture?" They show you what a "Big R" is, and show you a "Little R," then the game begins. This is the point where the core audience is at. They're just barely learning what letters look like. They're pretty well off if they can count to twenty. Is it really fair to the child to consider foreign language vocabulary in the same category of "need to know info?"
Its as if foreign language is some sort of a craze right now. Nearly all of my daughter's electronic toys yell out spanish and french words at her (and they are age-appropriate!). I'm just not concerned with it. Right now I am concerned with her being able to stand without falling over. I hope she crawls soon without her tummy dragging the floor. I hope she says, "Mama."
And when she's in preschool, I am only going to hope for the basics. I'm more concerned with her learning to read, count, and write with a pencil than I am hoping for her to know more foreign vocabulary than anyone in her class.
Once she knows how to read, write, and count proficiently, then by all means, she can learn something extra on the side. Like I said, it doesn't "hurt." But I'm really concerned about parents who concern themselves with how much foreign language their child knows when they apparently forgot that in the classroom, Johnny still can't read.