Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary Schools

          I thought that the film An Inconvenient Truth was a very effective piece of risk communication on the issue of global warming.  In his presentation, Al Gore effectively uses a mix of language and visuals to instill the importance of his message in the viewers.  The placement of this presentation in a documentary gives an additional point of view from which the viewer is able to consider the substance of the presentation and the man giving the presentation.  Being within a documentary, the message is given a more personal aspect, for the viewer gains a better understanding of the reasons and credentials that Al Gore has for giving these presentations.  Some of the things we get from the documentary, which we would not have just from the presentation, include certain life experiences that drew him to this cause, the research, study, and investigation that he has done on this topic which qualifies him as a good source of information, and the personal experience, such as the death of his sister and the accident of his son, which directed him to these important realizations concerning the urgency of the global warming problem.  With this insight, the message is more personalized and, therefore, more appealing. 

              With the issue of global warming, there is much at stake.  One of the things that Gore emphasizes as being at stake is our ability to live on the earth and continue to have it as our home.  His appeal is that planet earth is our only place to live therefore all people should make it their responsibility to protect it.  I feel that this appeal is very effective because of the very strong tie that everyone has to their home.  There is a certain emotional component to this reference that cannot go undetected by the viewer.  It is an appeal that is universally understood, having the same effect on people no matter their home country.  In addition, Gore acknowledges the stake of our future generations and the effects that our actions now have on their wellbeing.              

          I liked the way Gore uses undeniable evidence to show that our influence on global warming is causing significant problems to the environment.  For instance, he discusses the testing that has been done and observations made by extracting a drilling of ice that shows yearly differences among ice layers.  It was interesting how he notes that scientists can tell when a certain year was in the ice layer by the amount of CO₂ found in the section.  Also, the pictures he compares against each other of how glaciers looked years ago as compared to today were very compelling evidence to evoke sentiments of the urgency for change.             

         In relating the information to his audience, Gore deals with the challenge of getting through to people without the interference of politics.  Many people in the audience might have had initial reservations about what Gore would say because of his political background.  I was leery about the information that would be presented by Gore before I watched the documentary because I figured that there had to be some underlying political or personal ambition that motivated his presentations.  However, I soon found that this was not really the case.  Gore tries to gain support across party lines for this issue.  He does not include much in the way of politics in speaking on this issue.  The references he does make are positive ones, such as when he states that this issue has nothing to do with what political party you are in, but that it is an issue that affects all of society, regardless.  He appeals to the audience that this concern is an ethical one and should be properly considered by everyone for the benefit of all.  

         Throughout the documentary, Gore establishes a strong appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos.  He establishes his ethos right away with his remark that he “was the next president of the United States.”  His authority on this topic is perceived by the audience since they are aware of his prominent place in politics, which allows him access to an abundance of inside information.  Yet, more convincing is that fact that he shares with the audience that he had organized hearings on the subject of global warming when he was in the Senate, that he wrote a book on this topic, and that he has made multiple trips to places of the world where scientists are in the process of collecting data and making observations.  He also establishes an appeal to ethos in the way that he presents himself.  He establishes a sense of his goodwill among the viewers, as he does not advocate a political stance, but rather shows his sincerity and concern for the issue without limitation.  References to his childhood and family life on the farm also give the audience a more approachable and trustworthy figure as they judge the source of the information that he presents.  He presents the audience with a more down-to-earth figure who can be related with. Gore’s appeal to pathos comes through in the way that he emphasizes the seriousness of this issue.  He makes that audience entirely aware of the fact that this issue directly affects everyone and so everyone has the obligation to play their part in order to fix it.  He acknowledges the issue of global warming as ethical or moral issue.  He really emphasizes the fact that the way people choose to act regarding this issue does not just affect them, but everyone else around them, so a heavy responsibility rests on their shoulders to act in the best interest of all people.  That is, without question, to work to solve or mitigate the problems that cause global warming.  The majority of people hold ethical and moral concerns as high priorities.  By placing the issue in this context, he is able to touch upon an emotional component held by the viewer and therefore enabling him to more effectively incite the viewer to act.  In addition, his use of visuals and humor provides a solid appeal to pathos.  These elements help him relate his information more effectively to his audience. The visuals help the audience to see the concrete effects that global warming has on the earth.  By explaining how global warming contributes greatly to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts, as well as how it has serious implications on the lives of wild animals, such as polar bear and birds, Gore illicit concern from the viewer.  Gore also firmly appeals to logos with respect to examples and visual evidence he gives.  For example, in citing the extent of agreement that exists among the scientific community with regards to the seriousness of the issue of global warming and society’s contribution to it, Gore leaves it hard to argue against his position.              

         I was amazed by all that I had learned from the documentary.  I realize that a lot of the success in getting the seriousness of the issue through to me was due to the effectiveness of Gore’s presentation.

Three Images that relate specifically to my topic include:

 1.      A graph showing the portion of the US population which is bilingual compared to the proportions in the European Union and other countries of the world2.      Images of students learning in a foreign language classroom3.      Images of the development of children’s brains with respect to area that corresponds to language in the brain The graph would provide a useful representation of just how behind the US is when it comes to progress in foreign language education.  This visual would make a clear impact upon the viewer because the discrepancies are so prominent between our nation’s bilingual population and the populations of other nations around the world.  Problems which might be faced with this type of representation include that fact that a graph cannot represent the entire picture of the situation.  Such factors that could cause the presentation to be deceiving include the differing sizes of various populations, the distribution of the bilingual population within a nation, the situational factors which cause it to be a necessity for some nations to be bi/multi-lingual, and the relative wealth available to nations in order to pursue foreign language education as an additional discipline in their schools.  In order to address these problems, I would need to establish a clear framework for the context of the visual.  For instance, I would need to accompany the visual with adequate explanatory text. Images of students learning foreign languages in a classroom would be useful in getting the idea out there that several schools have undertaken the challenge to incorporate foreign language education in their curricula.  Showing situations in such classrooms helps promote the idea of other schools’ foreign language program develop.  However, some such images run the risk of being perceived as deceptive.  Most know that when photographs are being taken to promote a cause the situations are staged and are not often accurate to the true situation.  For instance, a photograph might show a foreign language teacher working one-on-one with a student who practices reading or speaking in the foreign language.  However, in most typical classrooms this situation of continuous personal attention is not feasible for a teacher.  To avoid these types of problems I would need to select images that look like they are taken in the actual context of the real situation.  Another way to avoid problems is to include brief statements about where the picture was taken and informative background about it. 

Images that show a child’s developing brain and its activity in areas related to language learning help to show the scientific basis behind the reasoning that children are most equipped biologically to successfully acquire a second language.  Such an image might be used in comparison with the brain images of older children and adults.  This comparison would be very useful because it would highlight the differences between children learners as compared to adolescent and adult learners when it comes to language learning.  With these types of images, one of the problems that might be encountered is that often with scientific data what is being seen has to be thoroughly explained by an expert.  Since few things in science are clear and simple, such explanations have the chance of confusing the general public.  In confronting this problem, I would have to thoroughly understand the explanations given by the experts on the image and paraphrase the explanations in more understandable terms.