it seems like in teaching any subject area that the biggest struggle is always answering 'why do i need to learn this?' this seems especially true in foreign languages, and for me, spanish. students get a lot of spanish input and discussion in the class, but odds are they will never hear spanish (or care to) outside of class. i'm just wondering if there are good ideas out there to help kids understand that spanish soon will be an everyday language in the united states and that it is vital to learn it.
Where do you live? I work in an area where Spanish is heard daily by students, in the hallway, at supermarket, and at the mall. It is truly relevant. It sounds like you need some stats to show your kids about Spanish as a language spoken in the world (3rd most spoken language natively 1. Mandarine Chinese, 2 Indian, 3Spanish, 4English) as well as the fact that it is in the media all around us (ads, tv, radio, etc).