Is "Global Education" moving second language learning to a place of greater value and respect in our school communities?

    Let's first talk about what I mean by "global education,"  and then move on to how this may be helping our school communities to value learning World Languages in a way that we have not previoulsly experienced. My definition of "global education" is one that I am adapting to teaching World Languages at the middle level. As I structure this definition to meet the needs of my middle school level students,  I'm using it to define that fact that our world is becoming increasingly more connected via the internet, and that opportunities for international communication exist for us now and will be exceedingly important for our student's future as global citizens and netizens simply by virtue of the opportunities that are now available with the internet.  I had a conversation today with a sixth grade Spanish class that I may not have had with them five years ago. So much has changed with technology in the past few years that is leading us into greater communication access to the rest of the world, drawing us closer, in a staggeringly instantaneous fashion, by the way. I want to help them to understand that technology and internet is a pathway to understanding more about other cultures, and languages. I want them to understand that their future may be dependent on their ability to connect with other countries based on their knowledge of the country's culture and/or language.
      For years I have opened discussion and presented lessons about how important learning a World Language is, and for years I get the same response. "It's great to know Spanish for traveling." "Oh yes, yes, Johnny.....it most certainly is." "So, I do hope you remember how to order a hamburger and a coke when you go to Cancún on vacation."  I then go into my diatribe about all the other reasons for the importance of  learning a second language that may be far more important than a spring break excursion to México.
     Now,  I'm thinking......... they just might listen to us, value us, and respect us a little more if we World Language teachers start focusing on the potential that technology and the internet has to offer for student's language learning, and that this learning to make real world connections with other cultures and languages, will be directly linked to: our nation's economic future...... it's staus as a world power,  and...... future student employment opportunity,  just to name a few.