Teach Spanish to Black Students? Make It Relevant! Make it Black!

Abstract

Teachers of foreign languages in the United States have a number of obstacles to overcome, the most massive being, perhaps, the fact that ours is a one-language-oriented society. That language, of course, happens to be English. While it is true that to know an elegant language such as French was at one time considered to be aesthetic, nice, or a status symbol, the study of that language was never truly widespread; and neither was the study of any other foreign language. On the other hand, people in other lands have a broader outlook on this form of communication. European countries, for instance, perhaps due in part to geographical circumstances, have always been multi-language oriented. Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, due to their long subjugation to the British Empire, were (and are) to a great extent, bilingual.China, under a communist regime, has included the teaching of English in the curriculum, but the study of the language was introduced into the country along with our large trading interests and many missions long before the communist take over. Reports on President Nixon's trip to Russia have disclosed that in Russian schools the teaching of English as a second language is begun at the second grade of elementary school. In Latin American countries the study of English is fairly general; and in Mexico, our closest neighbor to the South, the presence of American tourists boosting the national economy has also encouraged its study. Instructors of foreign languages in the United States have to fight, then, the indifference towards other languages that is so deeply embeded in our culture. Nevertheless, Spanish, French, German, Latin, Italian, and Russian are taught in many high schools, colleges, and universities. At the high school level, the study of a foreign language is sometimes encouraged, but more