Bilingual Education - Persuasive Speech Essay

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-language

Persuasion is key when trying to compel your audience to do or believe something. Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.

By expanding ourselves past the comfort of the native tongue, we are able to create connections with other people. When learning another language, we may start to understand not only the language itself, but also comprehend new cultures, ways of thinking, and other people. From the very beginning of deciding to become a teacher, I knew I wanted to expand my ways of thinking so I positively benefit students of all cultures and language. I believe language learning allows people to view the world in different ways by becoming positively influenced by other cultures, people, and different ways of thinking. However, after deciding to become an ESL teacher, I truly believe that bilingual education is needed to help students develop and maintain high levels of proficiency and literacy in both their L1 and L2, while learning in the content areas. This is why I personally believe it is better for children to be raised bilingual instead of learning a second language later in life. One reason for this is that even though I was born in America, my parents wanted me to learn their language, which was Polish. Now, I am fully appreciative of the fact that my parents taught me Polish and placed me in a Saturday school where I was being taught both English and Polish. If I was taught Polish later in life, I think I would not use it to this day because I would not have made personal connections with the languages, as I was able to by being raised bilingual. There are many benefits of being raised bilingual instead of learning a second language later in life. It is important to understand that it takes on average 4-7 years to become academically fluent in a language; by raising a child bilingually, the children are able to use both languages more efficiently earlier than those students who learn a second language later in life. Since the child has been bilingual for a longer time, there are educational benefits commonly found. Bilingual children tend to have a higher concentration and are better at working through distractions while doing their schoolwork. Bilingual children also perform higher on average on tests that involve multi-tasking, creative thinking, or problem solving (Marian & Shook, 2012).

Immigration has been a major problem for countless years that seems to never seize. Illegal immigrants do not hold the rights that U.S. residents possess and manage to live a hard life because of the mere opportunities that come their way. U.S. residents are allowed to vacate and visit the places immigrants come from, yet they have to risk their lives in hopes of a better life. Where is the equality? The unfair treatment arises from them simply being illegal, however everyone deserves equality regardless of their background and origin. The deep stigma and outlook on immigrants in today’s society can be quite controversial. The government should indeed allow immigrants to find a place to call home without the use of strict immigration

When I first started school, I remember how difficult it was for me to make the transition from Spanish to English. My Mom left me at the door of the school in the morning, but since I was placed in an English-only classroom, the next time I opened my mouth to speak to anyone was when she picked me up again that afternoon. I didn't know what anyone was saying around me, and to make matters worse, my teacher didn't speak a single word of Spanish. That day, like every other day, I came home crying because I felt like an outsider. That year was very difficult for me because I ended up in the back corner of the classroom not participating. As a result, I had to take several years of summer school in order to catch up, something that

Specific Purpose: To persuade the members of my audience to support that undocumented students should have access to in-state tuition.

Over the last decade or so, important legislation has been implemented to positively ensure fair and equal access to a quality education for English Language Learners (ELL). Change did not happen without there being obstacles to overcome. There were many overturned cases that initially sought to strip English Language Learners of their basic rights to an education. Yet, there would eventually be legislation instituted to help alter the course.

The first days of school became the saddest days of my life. Not only was I missing my parents, but also I was intimidated. I was used to getting the best grades at my former school; here in New York, I was something different, somehow less. I neither liked nor understood what was happening to me. Because of my inability to speak fluently, and without inventing words, a few weeks after trying to fit in at school I decided to give up. I limited my social life to talk only to Spanish speakers, I did well in every subject except for English, and I lost all my interest in learning proper

Our country is supposed to be one about opportunity, neglecting to provide an equal chance for these children to learn would contradict the notion that America is the land of opportunity.

Ladies and gentlemen of the United States Congress, I would like to address an important issue occurring in our society. I stand on the change of the current government policy in handling immigration and deportations. A new pathway for unauthorized immigrants to simply gain legalization in a less threatening way. I can trace my ancestors back to immigrants coming to America from Mexico, and I know that a large percentage of Americans today can trace their ancestors to immigrants from different nations as well. Mexican immigrants and Mexican American families are one of many who are facing problems with such policies.  We can be turning away possible citizens who have great potential in our society. Proof of this occurs in the legal immigrants

How many of you have said this before? I have. This used to be my

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States due to texting. Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 and 29, who admitted to texting while driving. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/texting-while-driving-statistics.html)

The World Wide Fund for Nature or WWF for short has worked at reducing our carbon footprint for over 45 years. Even since 1985, the World Wildlife Fund Network has invested over $1.165 billion in more than 11,000 projects. According to the WWF website, their mission is to conserve nature which they are actively doing in 100 countries with 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. There are several ways that everyone can do their part in supporting WWF. Supporters can donate money, adopt a species, or take action and directly help conserve our environment. I am going to discuss WWF’s cause and importance, how they are working to conserve nature, and how all of you can help support the cause.

a. The following poem by Robert Test entitled, "To Remember Me," shows the importance of organ donation.

An American literary theorist and novelist, Kenneth Burke, once said, “Wherever there is persuasion, there is rhetoric, and wherever there is rhetoric, there is meaning.” (Burke) Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these motivational individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement, the movement that achieved the most important breakthrough in the equal rights legislation. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.