Adventures in Foreign Languages It could reasonably be argued that, for those of us who live in the USA and speak English as our native tongue, there is very little motivation to learn a foreign language. We can travel for thousands of miles and still be surrounded by native English speakers. We can easily spend our entire lives without having any real need to speak another language. It is even possible to comfortably visit many tourist destinations around the globe, speaking only English. Clearly, learning a foreign language is a non-essential skill in our society. Benefits in learning a foreign language Nevertheless, learning a foreign language offers several possible benefits. Some of the commonly stated benefits are: Fosters a feeling of international community, by promoting an awareness of other cultures and countries. Enriches our understanding of our own language, by bringing grammatical structures and word roots into sharper focus. This may be especially true when studying languages that share linguistic elements with English. The study of linguistics, and learning to think and speak in another language, offers its own intrinsic pleasures and rewards. Language can be fun. Opens up the possibilities of reading non-English literature. Expands global travel opportunities. Linguistic adventure I think these are good reasons, so I wanted to provide my children with some exposure to foreign languages. But what language should I teach? What language am I qualified to teach? I took four years of French in high school (and got straight A's), but I never reached any real level of fluency, and I have retained very little of the small amount of French I once knew. Is there any language that I could realistically learn/teach alongside my children? I'd like to tell you about our linguistic adventures, and where we ended up. After a bit of research, I settled on Spanish for our first foray into foreign languages. But how should I teach it, given that I don't know Spanish myself? I know of one family who hired a full-time Spanish nanny to communicate to the children only in Spanish. It worked very effectively for them, but this was not an option for my family. Another option would be to take my children once a week to a private instructor. Many families find this to be the most practical way to learn a foreign language. Yet I have also heard many families complain that their children have learned surprisingly little from such classes. Perhaps they have learned a bit of vocabulary (colors, parts of the body, numbers, etc.), but they are still unable to express themselves in the second language, or construct any sentences beyond a few drilled-in, rehearsed phrases. Deciding on Esperanto So I went back to the drawing board and did some more web research, looking for a language or method that would allow us to discover some of the joy that can come from learning a foreign language. By sheer luck, I stumbled across a little-known language, and within just a few hours of reading about it, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for! The language was Esperanto. When I tell people that we're learning Esperanto, I usually get some strange looks. But that's okay. When I tell people we home school, I often get strange looks as well I'm used to doing things that are outside of the mainstream. And as with home schooling, it can be very difficult to sum up in a couple of sentences all the reasons why it's so worth while, particularly to someone who may already have preconceptions to the contrary. Why is Esperanto unique? So for those of you who know very little about Esperanto, I hope you'll indulge me for a moment. I would like to explain some of the features that make it such a unique language, and elaborate on why I think it is