Bilingual Education Essay

In a globalized world, English is and has been universal language for communications around the world. For that reason, U.S. has never had an urgency to learn and appreciate foreign languages. Most of school systems treat language classes not important as the core curriculum. According to the current positions on bilingual education, schools in the United States teach languages at exactly the wrong time and exclude children from all the benefits that extend beyond pure communication. It’s extremely important to be bilingually educated to adapt into increasingly globalized world. Moreover, even necessary, for those who should reach out and speak at least one other language. Being bilingual comes with various advantages and immeasurable benefits.

The problem with both bilingual education and English-as-a-second language instruction in the United States lies in our unwillingness to treat English for non-speakers as an academic subject (Haas, 2007). While the bilingual programs in California are thought to be mostly for people who speak Spanish, there are also Asian students that need to be taught proper English before continuing their education. As one anonymous teacher points out: "I have had 32 different languages spoken in my classroom over a 25-year period. Eighty-four languages are spoken in our district."(Anon 1998 & Haas 2007). Which for most teachers mean that it is both educationally and economically impossible to teach every student in their own native language.

Being a Hispanic student who came from not speaking English at all to writing English essays on a weekly basis, I have learned many things that have helped me cope with the disadvantages that were brought on by my lack of English language skills and the advantages that came with being a bilingual student. When I first came to Canada in 2006, I barely spoke a word of English and had to rely on other people for help. I felt helpless and lost, as my classmates were doing things that I did not understand. Over time, I began to pick up the English language quickly and I started to take risks. I constantly challenged myself to try to speak English whenever possible and this allowed me to catch up to my classmates in writing and speaking by grade 3, which was my

Too many times growing up has the phrase been said, “Speak English! This is America”. If the United States has always been the home to hundreds of immigrants, with different nationalities, can we say English is the only language to talk in America? Absolutely not. For many years, the United States has preferred monolingualism, the knowledge of one language however from hospitals to courts, the assistance to interpret different languages is now offered. Schools have now begun to implement programs that consist of teaching in two different languages, known as dual language classrooms. All coming together to push forward the rewarding benefit of knowing more than one language, of being bilingual. Just like manners, the knowledge of a second language must be taught at an early age by our first teachers, our parents.

They leave school with frustration, insecurity, and the desire not to return. They wonder, as I often did, "Am I stupid? Why am I not getting this?" Having a bilingual education program would make school a more positive experience for many children.

The greatest concern of mandating “English only” schools in California for example is that 80 percent of the population of students is Latino. Miner further explains, “Good bilingual programs are about more than learning a language, it should be about respect for diversity and multiculturalism (Bilingual Education, 1999).”

The United States is a country built by immigrants who speak more than one language. Being bilingual has many benefits that vary from traveling with ease all through having a brain that can multitask faster. In the past decade many schools in California, as well as other states, have started a program called the “dual immersion” or something of that nature in which they have a class that is in another language, usually Spanish, and they teach the kids all the required material in that other language. The “Dual Immersion” program is something that should be instated into more schools, specifically in the bay area, because of the diversity seen here.

The Detrimental Effect of an Education in a Foreign Language California passed a proposition in 1997 that ended funding for teaching children solely in their native language. Instead of these programs, opulent citizens will provide funding for the English as a Second Language (ESL) program in California's public schools. These ESL classes will have non-native speakers learn subjects in English and their native language simultaneously. Even though the proposition passed, the issue of which plan is more beneficial continues to spark debate. On the one hand, ethnic groups say the law is unjust because their children cannot understand English. They argue that their children need to be taught in their native tongue. Most

Historical Background The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 reflected the diversity and multiple cultural backgrounds of the United States. It was the first act to acknowledge individuals with limited English-speaking abilities. According to, Immigration in America, the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (BEA) was a federal law which provided funding to school districts to develop bilingual education programs. The BEA was signed into law on January 2, 1968.

The 1970’s was a time for movements, change, education, and the development of freedom. The book ‘Brown not White” really shows and defines this time period, and inspires everyone to try and understand what our past had entailed. The book was a true inspiration to all Americans, and in my opinion a proper tribute to all Mexican Americans.

​The United States is a nation filled with a multitude of different cultures which come alongside with a variety of languages. These languages are what help society to communicate with one another and to expand their horizon of thinking. As the United States progresses so does the culture. The culture of the United States is no longer what it once was. A nation of a predominately Caucasian race, who only speaks one language, is now a thing of the past. The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (English Language Learners) states that from the 1997-1998 school year to the 2008-2009 school year, the number of English Language Learners in public schools increased from 3.5 million to 5.3 million which comes to be a 51 percent increase. They also reported that the overall student population grew to a 7.2 percent increase during this time. A huge generation of a multicultural society is rapidly growing and it is our responsibility as a nation to educate this new generation to its fullest potential. We as a nation can wither choose to ignore the reality of this new generation by forcing one language on students classified as English Language Learners, or we can choose to cultivate the knowledge of language so that this new generation may prosper in more ways than one. We do not want to become a society that promotes, as R.A. Berman summarizes in his statement from his article The Real

Nowadays, most of the U.S. high schools required all students to take a foreign language class. Bilingual education is not a newfangled concept. In China, every student started to take the English class since they were in third grade. I took my first English class when I was in second grade. Schools are extremely encouraging students to learn other languages besides Chinese. It helped me feel a little bit of sense of safety when I first came to the United States. Because I was being able to understand what my teachers were talking about, I feel appreciated I had taken the English class in China. Although it will produce the stress for students and gives them a hard time to learn a new language, I strongly agree that the U.S. high schools should

The bilingual education programs in the United States have a long history despite an ongoing battle. The goal of bilingual education has been focused on two areas of assimilation and integration. Bilingual education programs help immigrant children to learn English and adopt American culture. Under social and political preferences, most of the schools use transitional bilingual education but with English only. As a result, the students’ home languages, culture are devalued in the schools. Students learn English while at the expense of losing their first language. Despite much research bilingual education is not fairly recognized by the public. However in fact when a bilingual education program “supported the minority language were consistently superior in various outcomes.” Case closed, bilingual education programs should be properly administered with the requisite support needed. We still wish to look at some further benefits though. Students who are given instruction in their home language helps them to catch up to their English speaking peers in subjects such as English language art, reading, and mathematics. Bilingual education students do better than the English-only instructed students overall. Bilingual education is more effective than English-only monolingual education. Actually, by using the students’ first language in school this does not interfere

Without Bilingual education every immigrant who came into the United States would have a hard time succeeding.

Going to a bilingual and monolingual class can have a great difference in the student that vary heavily on their native language and who they are as a student. Studying can already be hard as it is for some students and adding on top of that, learning it in a foreign language to them can make it twice as difficult. In a Bilingual classroom immigrant students are instructed in their native language but are expected to transfer with the rest of the students once they are seen comfortable and capable to be taught in English. As explained by Noël Merino in Introduction to Bilingual Education: At Issue “In two-way programs, the goal is not to eliminate the use of the non-English language, but to create fully bilingual students who have different native languages” (Introduction to Bilingual Education: At Issue). In programs where both native and non-native English speakers learn the other’s language, does not impose the preference of one language and the elimination of the other. In comparison to a monolingual classroom, where they are placed in with every other student and expected to follow along