Interesting change going on in language education. I'm a coordinator for my daughter's elementary school's after school program. I wanted to bring in foreign la

Interesting change going on in language education. I'm a coordinator for my daughter's elementary school's after school program. I wanted to bring in foreign languages so I started with Spanish because of the large Spanish speaking population (plenty of people to practice with) around our area. I partnered with the foreign language department at a nearby college to get some Spanish education students to teach: they received credit while we received free instruction. The head of the department developed the learning modules with her students. The modules were all cultural - music, food and dining, art, literature, etc. - and emphasized vocabulary and phrases associated with the particular cultural lesson. The department head told me that modern language instruction is no longer about learning rules and exceptions, which is how I was taught French, rather it's about getting kids to use language practically as soon as possible. An interesting side note is that the department head and her students consciously stayed away from the culture of Spain itself and focused on the countries of people in our area - Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, and Columbia. Learning, in general, seems to have changed away from rote learning of rules to "let's get the students doing something practical right away so they get excited about learning". My daughter's music teacher is a fairly recent graduate of Berklee Music College's music education program. When my daughter showed up for her first lesson, she had to pick a song she liked. He had her playing it - albeit crudely - by the end of the hour. She was excited and wanted to play more. When I learned drums I don't think I could play to an actual song for my first year. I had to go through hours of practicing rudiments - basic patterns to develop coordination - before applying them to anything. I think we're learning more about how people learn. I'm hopeful that "older dogs will be learning new tricks" thanks to teaching methods better aligned with how we learn.