I think teaching Esperanto in primary schools is a fine idea, but I'd only make it an extra-curricular or elective.

Why? Well, people generally don't like things they were forced to "learn". So may people hate wondeful things like Math, Physics, or History, because they were forced to learn them (in a very boring way) at school.

I think it's why I enjoy learning Esperanto more than I enjoyed learning English- there's no pressure of exams, I can learn at my own pace, I can do the courses I like instead of ones prescribed by a teacher.

(Getting it out of the way that I REALLY do not want to have the superior tone I might seem to have here...)

This sounds like a WONDERFUL thing.

Me, I'm currently in eighth grade, first year anyone can take languages (Latin, French, and Spanish only), and I'm taking French...my classmates seem horribly disinterested and that I believe is the main reason they're doing poorly.

I fell in love with the language the moment I started taking it so I've used it a lot and I've worked at it a lot, and so I believe I'm rather functional in it. My classmates still ask me for help in a LOT of things. I see some working at it and those are the ones succeeding. I don't know whether it's just that they're uninterested in the language or if it's that they find it difficult (though I'm rather sure that those are closely related things).

It has come up that language-learning ability begins to fade RIGHT about at the time languages are offered in the US. And I have no clue why they offer them so late.

In my elementary school there were after school classes for, I believe, the second and third graders, in French and Spanish. I remember attending both. It was just a kind of a "learn a teensy bit of days of the week and that kind of thing, get a taste for the language" program. It was a nice thing, but considering that there after that a student has about 4 or 5 years of absolutely no use of that language, even the small basic level of it...well, it doesn't really help.

In my opinion if this kind of program is to be implemented in the United States we will have to also change how we teach foreign languages at the moment. And I am in full support of that. We should offer them in ALL years of school, and we should offer a more diverse amount. I think that Esperanto would be a great tool for introducing kindergarteners to languages and that it would assist them a lot in any others. But if we don't begin offering languages to students of all ages, especially elementary school children, it won't reach its potential.

KittyKis:
Me, I'm currently in eighth grade, first year anyone can take languages (Latin, French, and Spanish only), and I'm taking French...my classmates seem horribly disinterested and that I believe is the main reason they're doing poorly.

My school system offered them starting in 6th grade, though I didn't personally start till 9th, due to interference from other middle school electives. I had many poor students in my high school Latin class. Some of them simply did not try hard enough, while some of them tried hard but simply did not get it. In a language like Latin, most of your time is spent translating Latin into English, since this is how Latin is mainly used. It seemed to me that in many cases in lower-level Latin, you could translate the Latin sentence word for word and figure out what it meant, without even utilising the proper case endings. Man woman in forest see can be reconstructed by most people into "A man sees a woman in the forest", even ignoring Latin's grammatical suffixes. This should be even more the case in a simpler language like French, which does not decline nouns. In addition, I think that in many cases, poor understanding of English grammar hindered understanding of Latin.

Low standards and are another problem. I had a friend who took French for 4 years. He spoke no French whatsoever at the end of that. I believe that to pass a language class, you should show some minimal functional ability at the end. He passed the class year after year with decent marks, yet could not speak the language. I think it's far too easy to pass a language course simply by scoring well on vocabulary quizzes and other tests of rote memory, rather than testing based on understanding and use of the language.

In my elementary school there were after school classes for, I believe, the second and third graders, in French and Spanish. I remember attending both. It was just a kind of a "learn a teensy bit of days of the week and that kind of thing, get a taste for the language" program. It was a nice thing, but considering that there after that a student has about 4 or 5 years of absolutely no use of that language, even the small basic level of it...well, it doesn't really help.

I never met anyone who learned anything through those afterschool programs. Children learn best in an immersive environment, and a couple of afternoons (or mornings) a week is hardly immersive. It seems to me that a twice a week class (or whatever) is a very adult way to learn, and should be accompanied by homework, to keep your brain actively processing the information. Children need to be getting languages every day at school, as part of their regular studies.

KittyKis:
In my opinion if this kind of program is to be implemented in the United States we will have to also change how we teach foreign languages at the moment. And I am in full support of that. We should offer them in ALL years of school, and we should offer a more diverse amount. I think that Esperanto would be a great tool for introducing kindergarteners to languages and that it would assist them a lot in any others. But if we don't begin offering languages to students of all ages, especially elementary school children, it won't reach its potential.

Unfortunately, languages are taught in the U.S. in exactly the way to make such instruction essentially useless. Any success you have learning a language in a typical american school language program will be in spite of that program, not because of it.

One of the main problems is that schools focus on the wrong thing. Schools are built around tests, and grades every six weeks or whatever. The problem is, that to learn a language takes a huge amount of time. In my view, the best way to learn a new language is to get massive amounts of comprehensible input in the language. You have to absorb the patterns and usages of the language. Beginners make too many mistakes, and those mistakes become habits which are hard to break later on. Instead of focusing on output (tests), students should first focus on input (listening to and reading dialogues, over and over until they are fully understood (without translating them in your head). Next you should practice pronunciation by reading along with the recordings aloud, trying to match the accent, rhythm, and speed of the native speakers as closely as possible. Doing this gives you a good model for pronunciation, and it helps you further internalize how the language is used. This process takes months, but then you can start to really use the language, and use it correctly.

Of course, the way we do it now, you're stuck in a class of unmotivated learners, constantly listening to their mistakes and mispronunciations, and basically given no real help in Really learning the language. It's no wonder that someone can take 2-4 years of a language in high school and learn little more than how to count and ask where the bathroom is.

KittyKis:
In my opinion if this kind of program is to be implemented in the United States we will have to also change how we teach foreign languages at the moment. And I am in full support of that. We should offer them in ALL years of school, and we should offer a more diverse amount. I think that Esperanto would be a great tool for introducing kindergarteners to languages and that it would assist them a lot in any others. But if we don't begin offering languages to students of all ages, especially elementary school children, it won't reach its potential.

Oh one more thing I agree 100% that Esperanto is an ideal first language, and it would dramatically help students learn other languages later on. But I'd like to expand on that point a little. One thing that most amazed me, was how much esperanto deepened my understanding of English grammar. I am convinced that Esperanto would be the best way to learn grammar, because its grammar is so regular and simple (and with so few exceptions). Then when you go on to learn the grammars of other languages, including your native language, the comparison to how esperanto does things Esperanto would make learning those grammars so much easier.

awake:
Of course, the way we do it now, you're stuck in a class of unmotivated learners, constantly listening to their mistakes and mispronunciations, and basically given no real help in Really learning the language. It's no wonder that someone can take 2-4 years of a language in high school and learn little more than how to count and ask where the bathroom is.

Yup. I started English in fourth grade, three times a week. Interested in the language, I soon outperformed my class mates. Yet when I went to middle school, we were split into two groups: those who had never learned English, and those who knew some. While the beginners were the same ability, the other group had students of varying proficiencies, ranging from fluent to those who had taken English for a year. None of us have learned much.

I also remember when we went on a study trip to England last year. There were to be two of us per host family, and so I paired up with Majda. She had serious health problems so she appreciated having somebody who could translate in case something went wrong. I appreciated being with someone friendly.
I ended up as a full time translator and interpreter. Instead of useful vocabulary like "medicine", Majda had been taught the tenses of all of the irregular verbs. How useful.

And we won't be starting a third language until 9th grade. Guess how many options we have? Two. German and French. Guess how many periods a week will we have of the third language? Two. One less period than PE. Now guess why I'm learning Esperanto?

Betka, all I can say is that your English is excellent. Can't tell how your pronunciation is, of course, but you write it like a native.