As I was making my bed this morning, a familiar little thought flashed through my mind: “What’s the point? You’re just going to un-make it again when you crawl in tonight.” But just as quickly, my mind replayed a conversation that I had with a friend. This particular friend travels the world, doing training and consulting for large businesses. I remember his telling me that one of the first questions he asks when hiring any new employee is, “Did you make your bed this morning?” To him, making your bed is not about efficiency, it’s about the self-discipline and consistency that the habit shows. That’s the point of making your bed every morning.
Sometimes we can have a similar little thought flash across our minds in regards to certain school subjects: What’s the point? Different people will have different reasoning, but I’m sharing with you what I think and what Charlotte Mason believed was the reason for including a wide variety of subjects. We’ve already discussed the point of music study and art in your homeschool curriculum. If you missed that post, follow the link to take a look. Today let’s take a look at foreign language.
Learning a foreign language puts all of us on level ground. It can feel uncomfortable to try to wrap our tongues around unfamiliar sounds and our brains around different sentence structures.
It can be challenging to teach your child a foreign language, especially if you don’t know it yourself. Learning a foreign language puts all of us on level ground and can make us feel like preschoolers again. It can feel uncomfortable to try to wrap our tongues around unfamiliar sounds and our brains around different sentence structures. And just when we think we’ve grasped something, we discover that we’re pronouncing it incorrectly or saying the complete opposite of what we thought we were saying. Learning a foreign language can require a strong effort, a humble heart, and a good sense of humor.
So why put ourselves, and our children, through all of that? If you ask most parents why their children need to learn a foreign language, they will tell you, “It’s required to get into college.” Well, that is one reason; but it’s not the best reason. Even our children who are not heading to college would do well to learn a foreign language. In fact, Charlotte Mason thought
Every family would do well to cultivate two languages besides the mother tongue.
(Parents and Children, p. 7)
Why? As usual, her reasoning goes much deeper than mere academic requirements. Listen to her thoughts on the subject:
It is the duty of the nation to maintain relations of brotherly kindness with other nations; therefore it is the duty of every family, as an integral part of the nation, to be able to hold brotherly speech with the families of other nations as opportunities arise.
(Parents and Children, p. 7)
In other words, our children should learn a foreign language (or two) in order to be good global neighbors. It’s hard to be a good neighbor if you can’t communicate with that person. Yes, you can smile and wave, but to learn about that individual as a person—to begin to understand the ideas that rule his life—you need to be able to converse. Once you can carry on a conversation, you have, as Charlotte put it, secured “an inlet of knowledge and a means of culture.” Your worldview will expand and you will gain deeper insight into the differences and the similarities between you and your fellow human beings who share this earth. You will know better how to show true brotherly kindness and to represent our country and our Heavenly Father well.
That’s the real reason for learning a foreign language. That’s the reason for making the effort, not just for your children, but for yourself too.
I love how the Charlotte Mason approach to learning a foreign language focuses on conversational language. If you’re unfamiliar with the Series approach, watch this video demonstration of a Charlotte Mason foreign language lesson. With these simple lessons and consistent practice, you will grow in your ability to communicate with those around you whose heart language is different from your own. You will be able to learn more about them and show them meaningful brotherly kindness as a good neighbor. And isn’t that the point?
Learn a foreign language the Charlotte Mason way with the Cherrydale Press languages series! These resources focus on learning verbs you can use in conversation to describe everyday actions, which gets you speaking and thinking in the new language right away.
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