Have you ever wondered why many schools offer foreign languages? Thousands of high school students across the country are taking a foreign language due to the benefits that come along with taking the time to learn such a complex skill. In our own school, there are so many different languages that students have an opportunity to take. These languages are offered both through teachers as well as cyber-taught classes. Spanish is taught by Señora Wittie and Señor Poleto. Classes like French, German, Latin, and Mandarin-Chinese are all taught over cyber. Whichever class is taken, they all have tremendous benefits that can help students through high school and even life.

Señora Wittie, one of the two Spanish teachers at Clearfield Area Jr-Sr High School, has provided some of her personal experiences and benefits of taking a foreign language to help students realize how taking one can help them in the long run. For instance, Señora Wittie stated in an interview for the Stampede, “Students who learn another language are statistically more likely to have higher SAT scored and do better in classes such as English and Math.”

The benefits of learning a foreign language in high school also occur outside of academic setting as well. Señora also shared some of her personal experiences of how knowing a foreign language has helped her in everyday life. She explained how communicating with others inside and outside the country was improved through speaking a different language. While she lived in Texas, she exclaimed how she used Spanish in over half of her daily conversations. Señora Wittie believes students should take a foreign language “becuase it improves cognitive function. It also helps you get accepted into colleges. It also improves proficiency in your primary language as well as opening the doors to other cultures.”

Not all students at the Clearfield Area Jr-Sr High School are just taking the instructor-taught Spanish classes; many of them are taking the online classes as well. Prudence Corrigan, a Freshman here at the high school who is taking cyber-taught French, says that she wanted to take a foreign language in order to “expand her vocabulary.”

If you are a student at the high school and you are thinking about taking a foreign language, consider the benefits that it may give you. Take the chance and step out of your comfort zone!