Budgeting Time Optimally
Principals and classroom teachers are very well aware of the opportunity cost of time that LOTE enthusiasts recommend be used for LOTE.
We need to recognize that LOTE is a uniquely important element of early education, but also that there is no vaccum waiting for LOTE to fill it.
10% of instructional time is about 2 hours a week if you allow some losses for management and interruptions. That is 80 hours a year so, if it continued for 6 years, that would be 480 hours altogether.
This amount of time is very rarely available and would not be sufficient to provide mastery of Italian even if it was, but it is enough for almost all students to gain fluency in Esperanto and to use it for several hundred hours worth of intercultural exploration.
We need to recognize that LOTE is a uniquely important element of early education, but also that there is no vaccum waiting for LOTE to fill it.
10% of instructional time is about 2 hours a week if you allow some losses for management and interruptions. That is 80 hours a year so, if it continued for 6 years, that would be 480 hours altogether.
This amount of time is very rarely available and would not be sufficient to provide mastery of Italian even if it was, but it is enough for almost all students to gain fluency in Esperanto and to use it for several hundred hours worth of intercultural exploration.
