A Study On Dual Immersion Program

More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.

This paper will be revisiting the article PreK-3rd; Challenging common myths about young English language learners written by Linda Espinosa. In this article Espinosa provides us with some common myths that people believe about dual language programs and the effects that it has on children. Therefore, in my previous reflection paper two myths were chosen which were myths one and six. Thus the two myths are “myth 1: Learning Two Languages During the Early Childhood Years Will Overwhelm, Confuse, and/ or Delay Acquisition of English (Espinosa pg. 5).” The second myth is “myth 6: Native English Speakers May Experience Academic and Language Delays in Dual Language Programs (Espinosa pg. 15).” In the previous reflection paper, I discussed the two myths based off of my prior knowledge. Thus since the course is coming to an end, I will be stating if my opinion has changed or remained the same towards these two myths. Therefore, this paper will be providing more evidences that was been provided for us throughout the quarter.

As Zentella has studied within these three families, she finds an assortment of variation, even in individuals that come from the same family. The author argues that children coming from similar backstories range differently in their expertise in the language of their immigrated parents and the standard language of their residency. She concludes that because each family’s outlook on learning a second language and each individual’s preference challenges one another, one’s ability to learn a second language varies as well; there is no solid explanation as to why some people from the same background are more advanced in Spanish rather than English, and vice versa. Most people would not have taken into account of all the different contributions that this author describes, including gender, social preference, location, and personal beliefs. The common person would assume that acquiring a second language is possible for these families because they are surrounded by it, and that they would be able to maintain both their primary and secondary language. However, the author does analyze the contrasting opinion through observing the differences found in her study. She finds that the development of each person greatly varies to where each has different learning abilities and preferences. Where they live, whom they are in contact with, gender, and even their own personal behavior affects their unique growth. Since all have varying opinions, their decisions and values are placed accordingly to their own desire; in conclusion, these are all major factors in how people’s language skills

To learn a second languages is very important because people have better opportunities in life. For children from ages five and under it is the best time to learn as many languages. Angele Sancho Passe, the author of “Dual-Language Learners (Birth to Grade 3)”, talks about techniques for teaching English in a multilingual classroom and how reading in english to dual-language learners helps teach them oral language skills. Patton O. Tabors, the author of “One Child, Two Languages”, talks about writing case studies of children displaying different second language abilities. In the article, “Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages” by Grace Hwang Lynch, believes two-way bilingual immersion is a helpful way to introduce foreign languages

The curriculum for English-Spanish Learners (ESL) or English-Language Learners, was created to assist students who do not speak any or little English. Angela Valenzuela describes in her article, “Subtractive Schooling, Caring Relations, and Social Capital in the Schooling of U.S.~Mexican Youth,” that

It is important in the United States to have a competitive workforce, and a great way to do that is to have a society of learners that can communicate with people of other cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Although there are efforts for teaching school children other languages, most programs are primitive at best, left to be forgotten before the skills reach the point of relevancy. Dual language programs should be established in the US wherever feasible to give parents, at the very least, the choice to expand the minds of their children. Recent years have seen the inclusion of voluntary language immersion programs in places such as Athens, Georgia, in which students are taught from Kindergarten in two languages. These are steps in the right

Potowski discusses the benefits of being bilingual and the best way to educate the youth in two languages. One of the points Dr. Potowski discussed that I had not considered before watching this video was teaching elementary school in a mix of Spanish and English. Not only would this benefit the children who are trying to learn English, but it also benefits the kids that would be learning Spanish. In addition, this has also been found to be the most effective way to create bilingual students. However, there would be some issues with this which are not discussed in the video. In order to teach the class in two languages the teachers would have to be fluent speakers in both languages and right now I don’t think that America’s teachers meet that requirement on a broad scale. But, if our teachers of tomorrow can be educated in foreign languages, they will be able to effectively teach these two-way immersion classes on a larger scale. I think these programs would be the most beneficial option for Americans and the future of the American education system because studies found that kids in these programs did better in all of their classes. Something else she said that I found interesting was that the amount of immigration from the U.S. into Mexico is actually equal to the immigration from Mexico into the U.S., and that in Mexico the American students often have a very hard time adapting to the new education environment. I think this shows that America isn’t the only country that needs to work on their language education and bilingual education. And for all of these countries, it is important to update the system in order to adapt to the new global environment. Increased bilingual speakers will help break down the barriers of language that stand between monolingual people. I am glad that I am able to participate in this right now and feel that learning another language will ultimately benefit me in my college career and

His public language of a very rough English was used in the classroom at school and when he was on the streets of town. His private language of Spanish was used at home and he often felt a sense of safety in this. Comparing the Spanish his parents spoke at home to the English they spoke outside can prove and support his argument. Because Richard Rodriguez was raised in a Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant family and moved into the U.S. during his childhood, so he earned deep insights on the educational benefit of using one language, English. Rodriguez received the immersion education where he has to speak English for entire time. This education is largely different from the bilingual education that many supporters in the era had proposed as a national policy for general education of American immigrant children. As the supporters argue, bilingual education is supposed to raise a healthy private identity and cultural heritage which are undoubtedly lost in the process of immersion education. However, Rodriguez disagrees with argument that such losses would accompany without bilingual education. He claims that immigrant children can still maintain their intimacy and cultural heritage. He also proposes his perceptions that bilingual education restrains children from achieving linguistic proficiency and concrete public identity. He believes that they necessarily have to sacrifice a

Many Spanish students struggle because Spanish is not allowed in American schools. Luis Rodriguez discusses the importance of bilingual

Bilingualism is a very common trait in the Rio Grande Valley, but not in all parts of the United States. The need to learn other languages aside from English is often overlooked in other parts of the U.S. I often asked myself what is it that motivates people in this region to speak more that one language. I wanted to shed some light on my questions about raising bilingual children in today’s society. My interview subject has three children (now adults) that are all bilingual, and proficient in English and Spanish. We agreed that for the sake of the participant’s privacy I would give her a pseudo name to be used in this research. The family of five has a very typical Rio Grande Valley background. The parents are originally from Mexico, and came to live in the United States in their early teens. The Lopez’s

The dissertation that met the action research (AR) this student found to examine was “The Biliteracy Achievement of Latino English Learners in Two-Way Immersion Elementary Programs.” This study focused on the “biliteracy achievement of Latino English learners in two program models of two-way immersion to determine if learning two languages sequentially is indeed more effective for English Learners” (Moraga, 2010, p.74). There was several research questions discussed throughout this study. However, the one question this student mostly interesting on was “How are data used at school site level to determine the biliteracy attainment of English learners?” (p. 74). This question was the most relevant to this learner because she wanted to examine

In a study by Martínez (2013) the attitudes of Mexican American students towards learning English as a second language in a structured immersion program was investigated. It also analyzed the extent to which these attitudes differed in relation to the variables of gender and performance in English.

However, they still need to improve their grammar usage. For that reason, every morning as a warm-up, the student practice verbs conjugation writing complete sentence using the verb form designed by the teacher. For this specific lesson, the students will use the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Volunteers will read small paragraphs, they will listen the paragraph explanation by the teacher, and they will discuss, write and answer a question after each paragraph.

The TWI program was for 8 hours a day for 200 days, while comparison classrooms operated 6 hours a day for 180 days. Teachers did not differ significantly in their backgrounds or training, although TWI teachers were more likely to have a Master’s degree (30% to 6% and be bilingual (50% to 25%). The TWI program had a week of English by teacher and assistant, and a week of Spanish by a Spanish teacher and assistant, with both sets collaborating to plan curricula and assessment. The major challenge of the study was that it was difficult to ensure that literacy tests in English and Spanish were entirely comparable. Also, some of the tests used were experimental and turned out to be too difficult for most children, including in post-test. Neither program was “pure” immersion because the children were given language support on the side.

Two-way bilingual immersion programs not only create higher achieving students, but also more equipped and confident students. Academically, TWBI students receive higher grades because of the curriculum. Furthermore, 87% to 93% of past TWBI students stated they would not drop out (Lindholm-Leary). Indeed, the knowledge gained allows students to become more resilient, adapting to the new language; independent, figuring out the language themselves; and confident, taking pride in bilingualism. The TWBI program not only teaches another language, but also another culture. One of the programs goals gears students toward culture awareness by exposing other countries’ custom through songs, dances, and holidays. With this education upon the