EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

Students learn to read, write, and converse in foreign languages, but it is rare that they examine the larger context of the relationship between history and language. Spanish students, for instance, do not normally examine the reasons for the enormous growth of the world’s Spanish speaking population at the expense of the indigenous languages of Latin America; indeed, few high schools students are asked to examine the historical factors leading to the global dominance of a small group of European languages. This is an aspect of foreign language teaching that needs to be addressed; to grasp the fullest nature of a language, it is essential to recognize the historical and social factors that have shaped its current global makeup.

The Endangered Language Fund is developing an education and outreach program designed to educate students about the scope, diversity, and future of the world’s languages. We believe that foreign language programs should incorporate an understanding of language as a human phenomenon into their curricula. In too many cases, students learn languages without understanding the global context of multilingualism and language interaction. A richer, cross-curricular understanding of language will encourage students to think about their language studies in broader terms.

ELF will bring a presentation about endangered languages to schools in New England. The presentation is designed to contextualize foreign language learning by exploring how some languages come to be spoken by hundreds of millions of people while others disappear completely. We will also examine what happens when a language disappears, and what is lost as a result of the current global decline in linguistic diversity. We hope that the students will begin to see their foreign language studies in the larger context of geopolitical patterns, and will acquire a more profound understanding of language.

If you would like ELF to give a presentation at your school, office, or community center, please contact us at .