Interview with Faculty Member

Shareef Abdul Malik

From my understanding, I thought that there was only suppose to be one person out of the group to post the interview with the faulty member. So to be on the safe side here is what I have from a summation of Allie in our group. Allie gave a interview with Dr. Jipguep on the question theme: Why do you think foreign language programs are not being implemented in US elementary schools despite the increasing emphasis on globalization? Jipguep: "What does primary education consist of? Reading, writing, and arithmetic. And after you learn the three R's then social studies and natural sciences are added. If I had to take an educated guess, then the reason would have to be that having foreign language programs in elementary school does not make fiscal sense. I am not an expert on US primary school systems because I did not go to school here. You went to school here, tell me about your experience with foreign language." I believe that Dr. Jipguep was quite funny with her responses, not saying that she was trying to be funny, but I think naturally she has a good sense of humor. There were multiple question asked the the Dr. that fortunately and finally answered the topic question. I am satisfied that Allie was able to reach her and sit and have a nice conversation without waiting as long as I had to. Dr. Jipguep went on to tell about her experience in Cameroon.“In Cameroon, schools begin teaching another language in the 5th grade. Cameroon has two official languages: French and English; so if you lived in a French speaking area, you learned English and vice versa. In Jr. High School, you pick a language of one of our colonizers: Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, or Dutch, and you stay with that language until graduation. You can't graduate without knowledge of French, English, and your third language.”