why we need more immersion

Imagine having a  longer list of languages that you could choose to take here at school. Although Samo has a handful of languages for students, many have been wanting to bring back languages from the past, as well as include new ones that we have not offered before. However, instead of offering more languages we should offer an immersion program starting at a young age for more languages.Samo luckily gives students the opportunity to learn five different languages - Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Latin - but recently there have been request from students to add new languages to the curriculum. As many have heard,  over the years German has been taken off and put back on over the past couple decades. The school then made a small change in the languages and took German off the list because of the lack of interest that occured in the years leading up to it’s dismissal. Looking back on it now, however, we see that the tables have turned and  the interest in German is now growing. According to Heather Wethern, the World Language Department Chair, 2,100 out of 2,900 students are currently taking a foreign language. Though the number seems relatively big, a majority of students take a foreign language because of the requirement at Samo, rather than doing it out of interest. Seeing that most students are only motivated by the requirement makes one question if the number of students taking a language will increase or if it will stay the same.    Wethern also explained how adding new languages is more difficult than perceived by some. The district must find teachers, money and most importantly interested students to make the new language class a reality. It is my opinion that instead of spending all this time and money on new languages, we should input it on making more immersion programs for the languages that we already offer. I believe that it would be much easier to do so, because it’s less work and just strengthening the languages that we already offer.Studies show that teaching children a language at an early age has countless benefits and can be more effective than learning the language later in life. It can help children develop problem solving, critical thinking skills, be fluent in another language, have more opportunities after high school and much more. Having the time to develop and strengthen one language seems to be a simpler and easier for students if they start at an age where they have enough time to master that language over the course of many years. Talking to and observing my immersion friends , it is easy to see how the students connect with one another too. Tanya Castillo-Castro (’21) has been an immersion student for over 10 years in SMMUSD. “Immersion is a challenge sometimes because it takes time out of your schedule every year; but I think it’s worth it because of the memories and long term benefits that it has. I believe that I have made many friends in the immersion program and you’re always guaranteed to seem a familiar face in any immersion class,” Castillo-Castro said.Castillo-Castro isn’t the only one who thinks this way. Talking to other immersion students I noticed that a majority of the current immersion student body feel close to one another and believe that they at an advantage having learned the Spanish language at an early age. Going off this very successful immersion program we can see how this adding new immersion programs for different languages can help students taking the languages become stronger as a student and from there we can continue to build up on this. Additionally it will help students come closer to one another and help make friendships as well.