With nations becoming increasingly connected through mediums like the internet, the world has changed substantially within the last decade. It’s a time where Spanish songs such as Luis Fonsi’s Despacito can top the American music charts, where traveling to the other side of the world takes a few hours instead of weeks, and more importantly, where states like California and Utah are continuing to promote and provide for a growing demand for bilingual education through dual-immersion programs. Although the states have great strides in the right direction, bilingual education should not be encouraged but rather be required for K-12 students. Because bilingual education integrates languages into the student’s lifestyle through instruction, it enriches the lives of children, the adults they will become, and the community to which they will contribute to.
If students begin their bilingual education as early as kindergarten, they are more likely to successfully acquire a second language. Children are like sponges and soak up information easily. Research conducted by Dr. Patricia Kuhl at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington shows that by 8-12 months, if babies are exposed to a second language, they retain the ability to distinguish those foreign sounds. Moreover, through the age of 7 or 8, children are able to learn to speak a second language with fluent grammar and without an accent. After this critical period, the ability to master a
In his article, Dan Carsen discusses the challenges with bilingual education in the Southern United States. Although he recognizes the obstacles present in this system, Carsen does argue for bilingual education. By appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos, Carsen properly describes the difficulties and importance in implementing bilingual education in the South. Carsen successfully appeals to ethos by conducting several personal interviews to capture real-world experiences. The first interview mentioned in the article is with Angelina Baltazar, a bilingual student at Tarrant High School.
As a bilingual person, growing up in America was hard. It took a lot of unpleasant words to the face and lots of unspoken words between myself and my peers. However, all those moments alone encouraged me to speak more English and self-teach when I had no one. In the essay, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” by Martin Espada, Espada argues about issues of language and identity because of forced bilingualism. In the essay, “Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez.
In the essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” (1981), Richard Rodriguez, an experienced writer, expressed that “…it is not possible to for a child – any child – ever to use his family’s language in school” and began expressing his past experiences with bilingualism (510). Rodriguez recollects his feelings toward the accents he has listened to throughout his childhood, his “disabling confusion” from gaining fluency in English and Spanish, and the intimacy passing between sounds and words (519). By implementing his personal experiences, he entices his reader into reading actively in order to express how confusing, yet beneficial bilingualism can be. Rodriguez’s audience is focused to those who can relate when using more than one language
Although statistics are not easy to come by, it is estimated that there are 10.8 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States of America today. Mexicans make up the majority at 62%. Next, in the top ten, and in descending order are immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, The Philippines, India, Korea, Ecuador, Brazil and China. Most of the Mexican illegal immigrants have settled in California, Texas and Florida.
Adults who attempt to learn a new language can understand the logic of the new language but can’t fully master jargons, diction, and exceptions to grammar rules. Researchers discovered that when adults mastered two languages in childhood, both languages were located in the same areas of the brain with no influence on the cortex. Bilingual adults keep the two languages unconnected, starting one and temporarily stopping the other when speaking to an individual who only speaks one
There are a lot of controversial issues surrounding this country. Whitin all those controversial issues there 's the “issue” of illegal immigration. I 'm sure we 're all familiar with the term “illegal immigration”. We’re always told about how bad it is. Don 't get me wrong, it is bad but it 's not done with the intention of hurting someone else but to try and change their future.
The parent’s perspective towards bilingual education was like the student’s opinions because both individuals felt immersion classrooms benefit the students and the parents. The father of Jason was proud his son was the first in his family to read, write, and speak in English. Jason’s father knew his son would have many career opportunities by learning English at school. Learning the English academic language was not the only proud language Jason’s father encouraged for Jason to learn but also the Spanish language as well. Jason’s father only speaks Spanish so if his son was to lose his home language, a language barrier would form between father and son.
His narrative shows this support and how having instruction in Spanish and English allows him to have higher academics. In less than ten years, one third of students attending public schools will not know English when starting Kindergarten. Are schools and teachers ready for this and will push for bilingual instruction? Is America ready for this? As for now, there is mixed perspectives.
“Illegal immigration continues to be a major problem in the United States. We have people wanting to come here legally and we should not be rewarding people who have come here illegally,” said John Barrasso. The United States Government should not allow immigrants into America because they are having negative effects on our country. Some negative effects are citizens competing with illegals for jobs, immigrants expecting favors, and Americans not getting to work hard for their money.
Today, bilingual education used in many countries for a variety of social and educational purposes. It is become actual problem of this century. Because, the world is changing and according to the requirements of time, the human mind adjusts to new discoveries, to new tops. Large-scale changes in all spheres of human activity: the globalization of the economy and politics, the information explosion, the rapid development of communication defined new requirements for the quality of education. First of all, a general global trend towards integration in the sphere of education determines the trend towards integration of subject knowledge.
They also described the differences between one-way and two-way bilingual education; one-way education is when students who speak one language receive education in two different languages, and two-way education is when there are students who speak different languages, who learn the other language through their peers. The United States showed favorability towards two-way education. This was because they had such a diverse student population, and students showed better retention when taught this way. The piece also described the careful planning that teachers must go through in order to make sure that the students will understand concepts in both languages. In closing they describe that even the most gifted and talented native English students are challenged in immersion programs, this showing that immersion is the key to learning for all students, not just English learners (Collier & Thomas,
The learners at the age of 3-5 are able to remember plenty of things just via using receptive skills. Their ability and range of remembering things is quite large. Very young learners are able to acquire the language only by listening. Until the age of 5 children are able to learn target language at the native speaker level, therefore the bilingual education is very prosperious and beneficial when started in the early age. Linguists and researchers as Purcell, Lee, Biffin, Baker distinguish other division of bilingualism and bilingual education.
6. IMPLICATIONS This chapter discusses the pedagogical and the research implications that evolved from this early sequential bilingual project conducted during the early years. The implications are based on the performance of the bilingual educators, the early childhood teachers and the children involved, as well as the materials employed to carried out this implementation. 6.1.
The ability to develop foreign language become reduces. Besides the age factor Experience and school environment as well as the teaching. They play an important role in the development of language skills. So the bilingual is necessary: using
Learning a second language at a younger age is beneficial Most little kids first day of school is when they are approximately five years old, and about to enter kindergarten. Kids go to school from about age five till graduation from high school at about age eighteen. Most schools focus on the basic core subjects, such as math, reading, science and history. Until junior high or high school, foreign language is not even offered.