Immigrant Students: A Bi-Lingual Study

Hello reader, I’m about to tell you a story of some of my life. I am not normally one to volunteer details about myself, which I’ll remain somewhat reserved or completely leave some events out of this autobiography. Nonetheless, I believe I can still make my story interesting for the reader. I was born 1979, in Tampa, Florida; which, is also the same day my biological father decided to leave my mother and I. My mother isn’t a native Floridian, but had moved there with her family when she was still an infant, and had spent most of her life growing up in Florida. Needless to say, my father leaving was not an exciting time for my mother and I. Although she was employed Jimmy Cater was president and had taken the nation into

In “The Good Immigrant student “, Bich Minh Nguyen talks about how her life was a child and how her life was like living in a white neighborhood in Michigan. At first when they had recently move to Michigan her Latina stepmother had a strong belief on bilingual education so Bich and her sister were sent to a school that had a bilingual educational program because her step mother feared that they would forget how to speak Vietnamese. There for the girls attended that school but there problem was not that they didn’t understand English but it was that they had trouble understanding Vietnamese they decided to not attend their bilingual classes anymore and the stepmother realized that the girls weren’t interested in learnig both languages.

Humanity is ever so much more complicated than one could have ever imagined. Humans can thrive on change, but ultimately look for something to declare as home. In search of this home people travel long distances and risk everything they have. When an American contemplates the word immigrant, one imagines the countless people from Mexico crossing into our country or the refugees that hope to make this country their home. What eludes most of us, however, is the reality that most people were, at one point, immigrants to this country and that our forefathers came here exactly the same as refugees come today. What is brought to mind when I hear the word immigrant is hope and perseverance. I remember the countless people who have traveled here

Being an immigrant is not a choice for many children; they usually have no options except to follow their family wherever they move. Once they move, they need to make a significant adjustment to the new environment. The transition to a new culture may be difficult for these children since they grew up with different culture and customs. To be a part of the new community, they must open their heart and accept the differences. The most challenging part would be adapting to a new culture without losing their identity. The challenges include learning a new language, being different from others, changing their name, dressing differently, adapting a new food and being accepted by the new community.

Immigration has been a part of American history ever since the United States was founded. American schools were built on the foundation of European traditions that have come to be problematic due to the increased number of immigrants from different regions of the world. There have been recent arguments over the quality of education migrants, legal and illegal, are receiving in secondary education. There are various differences amongst legal and illegal immigrants’ education in the United States that are controlled by environmental situations that alter achievement in the classroom. In this decade, what are school administrators doing in secondary education to prepare immigrants students to go to college, when these students are

who speak English less than very well” increased by 3.9 million.” Time taking an important role contribute to study language. Immigrants take ESL classes but finding the time between jobs and caring for their kids gonna be difficult. Especially difficult because you already common with native tongue and now had to speak with different tongue. The immigrant children and children of immigrant contribute to one of the fastest growing America’s child population.With children perspective, according to Global Citizen: “ With regards to school, parents often feel disappointed to see their children struggling to keep up in class, and many parents report bullying and discrimination as a result of cultural differences. Kids are often placed by their age rather than by their ability, and for those who are unable to speak English, it’s virtually impossible to keep up.” Not just adult, children have to deal many struggle while they at school. Not being able to mix with other American native speaker, hard to keep up with other make them felt behind and stressful or even

The Latino minority was now the majority. Of these new citizens, many are immigrants in search of affordable housing. For a typical immigrant, jobs are scarce and lead most of the residents in my city to settle for minimum wage jobs resulting in a low median income. The low socioeconomic status of the citizens played a pivotal role on the education of the children who grew up in this oppressed neighborhood. There was a staggering drop of 28.8% of students who graduated high school and/or pursued higher education from 1990 to 2010. This drop was result of the low expectations the education system primed on the students from a very young age. Since many come from immigrant parents their first language might not necessarily be English. Tracking then took place, separating the few who were fortunate enough to have prior knowledge of the “native language” and those who need extra help and were held back for their inability to speak English. Ramon and Hunt touch on the topic of schools lack of support, specifically schools under LAUSD; my home district. The education received at schools like mine were not up to par in comparison to schools white and Asian Americans attended; it did not provide the same highly certified teachers or varied class selection (Ramon, Hunt 387). Lack of support puts many at a disadvantage including myself who had to persist regardless of all the barriers tunneling my

To often the teachers don't realize that language is just part of a greater culture. So they miss the point that understanding the complete culture of the students they are teaching needs to be comprehended. I would say, especially when dealing with ELL students who are very new in the USA. The teachers can confuse the lack of interference is a lack of interest, when actually the Hispanic culture values education a great deal and those who teach it. They see the teacher as the specialist and therefore respect that teacher’s decision almost explicitly. They also confuse what appears their lack of time for their children's schooling as a lack of interest in the student’s education. They work very long hours and end up showing up at off hours due to their challenging work schedules. However, if they send an older brother or uncle or grandparent in their place they are saying I am engaged though it may not appear so to the Anglo teacher. The item that will get them to respond more quickly

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.

The erasure of your bilingualism and biculturalism is something that should not be eradicated from our brains, instead learning English should just be another tool added to our tool kit. In addition to language/cultural exclusion, teacher student interaction is also something that needs to be improved. As mentioned by Valencia, teachers tend to treat different “types” of students different (26). Teachers tend to hold lower expectations for Chicanos, due to the stereotypical notion that Chicano students are less intelligent than white students. With that thought seeded within an instructor’s mind, the system is already flawed from the beginning.

Kindergarten was tough, and where only middle and upper class people received the best education was frustrating for a low income student. Many kids in their country dream about the American education system being a better education than the one they have. Little do they know about the achievement gap we all have in common, and it is not receiving the proper education. Studies have proven there is achievement gaps all over the world. We need improvement in the ESL department for immigrant student that pursue their dreams. The government needs involvement to unite ESL students and regular students. Furthermore,we need effective teachers that don 't make students feel left out or neglect them for being ESL students. They are to be treated equally.

An issue that has become very important to me is that of fair education, specifically, in regards to ELL programs (English language learners) . This issue is very important to me because I’ve seen the struggles that immigrant students/the children of immigrants face when it come to the education system. During my early school years, I grew up in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood in East Harlem, therefore the schools in the surrounding neighborhoods had many native Spanish speakers. I didn’t encounter any problems in school with language, since English was my first language, but many of my classmates has trouble. I would often see teachers get frustrated with students when they could not communicate effectively with them. Instead of

The issues of immigration and the efforts schools are supposed to provide for the country are looked upon differently in respect to who you are to ask. At the federal level, the government states that every child is allowed to obtain an education. On the other hand, the local state government feels that they are able to vote on issues of denying education for all immigrant children. Throughout this essay, I will look at several schools and districts in the San Diego county area that are dealing with the issues of education for a diverse population, the demographics of the school and neighboring cities they are located and the summarization of whether the school are doing their part to make the transition for newcomer children easier to

Some of these issues include education, communication, and assimilation. The public school systems of the U.S. today are inadequate enough, without the hassle of trying to cope with immigrants. Assuming that the immigrant children are bilingual(most of which are not), they will still have much trouble adjusting to the curriculum, and most likely will need to be taught in separate classes; this requires more teachers, space, and desperately needed money. It can not be expected of teachers, the backbone of society today, to coach all immigrants through their troubles, and set aside extra class time to the soul purpose of further explaining matters to the ignorant immigrants. A large percentage of these immigrants will drop out of high school, about 33.1% of recent immigrants.

A way we could solve this problem is with a tutoring program that benefits both persons. According to an article on The Washington Times website, it states that 63 percent of immigrants have “English-speaking abilities” and 6 percent “don't speak English at all.” Hiring teens and younger adults to teach their foreign students could earn them extra cash to pay for things such as tuition, books, supplies, housing, clothes, and whatever else they desire. But this is not the one and only benefit to the program.