Why students from a foreign language background be taught English

I understand that immigrating to a new country is difficult: I get that this is exacerbated when you don't speak the language of the country. I understand that and I sympathize. However difficult it may be to do, learning a foreign language is one of the best things you can do, particularly if you're in a situation where you need to speak the language in a daily context.

I understand that many people dislike learning foreign languages. I feel that it is up there with math for most hated subject. But once you get past the conjugation tables and the vocab, you realize how rewarding it actually is. I understand that it's tricky to get the hang of, and I'm sure most people here have had a traumatic experience with it in high school, but since when do we exempt kids from learning those things that are most important. 

The host of benefits isn't even limited to the international students: They can benefit anybody.

Studies have found that learning a second language can help you in almost every other area of academics. It has been shown to improve attention span, memory, listening skills, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and creativity. Now, we can all agree that these are undeniably good things. If there were a program set up that was shown to improve these things in most cases, we'd be trying to shove as many kids into that program as possible. Add in the fact that this also teaches them to ask where the bathroom is, and it's a goldmine. 

Many places when looking at prospective employees will give preference to someone who knows one or more languages. When educating kids, isn't that what we are ultimately preparing them for? Finding a job? So this simple thing allows the kid to become more attractive to employers without them getting grades any higher than they would otherwise be getting. 

It even helps prevent degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, while also making your brain bigger. That's not just an expression either. When comparing people undergoing intense language training with medical students, the brains of the language-learners were noticeably bigger than those of the medical students. This is despite the fact that in both cases the subjects were asked to learn massive amounts of information in a very short amount of time. 

I feel therefore that any student who does not know English should be made to learn it. It will help him in all other aspects of his life, and is therefore preferable to the other alternatives. 

If you want to be constantly bombarded with reasons to learn a foreign language, follow @SalemLanguages on Twitter. It is run by the World Languages and Cultures dept.

Sources: http://www.care2.com/causes/6-reasons-to-learn-a-foreign-language-and-help-your-brain.html

              http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/06/07/4926143/ask-mr-dad-learning-a-foreign.html