With each passing day of our lives we are faced with the realization that this world is ever shrinking. We encounter new neighbors from other countries, colleagues who speak more than one language, and friends of our children come from various walks of life and far away countries. It is evident that our own children need to be prepared for this global society in which they will travel as young adults sooner than we care to imagine.
As a parent of three children and an educator of thousands I live this realization every day! I search for ways in which I can bring to my family not only knowledge of other lands where people look, live, sound and eat differently but also ways in which I can help them communicate with people from around the world.
I have done my own internet searches and conducted my own personal research about which language is the best choice for my family to begin learning in addition to English. It is obvious that learning Spanish as a second language here in the United States is the most practical choice if we want to use our new found language on a daily basis. Experts suggest using the new target language daily if you hope to become bilingual, and I know we will use it every day in our community that has experienced marked Latino growth.
The most recent research suggests that more than 350 million people world wide speak Spanish. Add on top of that the ease with which our children will learn the other romance languages, and it is almost a given to
Many Americans believe their is no point to learning a second language, as they believe english will soon be the world's only language (Johnson). According to Betty Birner of PBS:
I am the youngest of five sisters and two brothers. My family is Mexican- American, both of my older brothers were born in Mexico and were brought by my parents at a very young age. My parents were also born in Mexico and like every immigrant migrated from their home countries to pursue what is called the American dream. I very much enjoy being from Mexican roots, because my traditions, foods, dances, culture and kindness makes me who I am today. I have three nieces and one nephew from the ages six on down. We are all Mexican American ancestry.
Language is the way people communicate with each other. It allows us/them to express their thoughts and impart information through writing or speech. However, this exchange is not necessarily always objective as words and their meaning can/may be tainted by the speaker’s intentions. In politics, language is not only a powerful tool to conceal the truth and influence the public’s opinion but also a weapon against their opponents.
Spanish is the most common second language in the world and the most popular language taught in the United States schools. One reason it seems Spanish is the most popular second language, is over 20 countries claim it as their first language and over 400 million people speak it. More people on earth today speak two or more languages. With numbers like that it seems we all should learn a little bit of this popular language.
Spanish is a significant joining power in the Mexican American community. Mexican Americans will not forget their native tongue; though equally, English and Spanish are spoken in
I am very fluent in Spanish now and I my young children are as well. So even speaking another language is helping us grow. Diversity in society helps us grow as individuals and opens our minds to different ways of life.
To the outside world, I appear to belong to the Traditional White Nuclear Family culture, but my family included co-cultures and subcultures that were rare in the suburban south.
According to Pew Research Center, nearly 22 percent of 484 thousand Hispanics, ages 5 and older in the U.S., speak English proficiently, compared to 70 percent in Massachusetts.
As per Wikipedia, approximately forty-four million individuals here in the Assembled States are Hispanic and thirty-eight million beyond five years old communicate in Spanish at home. On May 19, 2006, an article named, "Senate votes to Set English as
In “How to Raise a Global Kid”, by Lisa Miller, Miller claims the task facing American kids who must share a global understanding in order to strive in today’s worldwide economies. The right time for kids to study another language has been a question since the world started thinking about worldwide opportunity, especially in nations whose main language is not English. Raising a global kid is about helping children be well-educated and efficient globally. Global kids have a better ability to understand us than we have of understanding them and of course there are probably more Chinese living in the United States than Americans are living in China. Lisa Miller believes there are three areas in helping children successfully: learning a foreign language, embrace world music, and learn different cultures to be able to live in a global economy.
When learning Spanish, it is interesting to think of it as the new English. Learning languages increases intellect. Spanish has many similarities with English in terms of the vocabulary. These open up ones ideas and thinking to diversify a learner intellectually. It is a fact that learning a language like Spanish leaves one sharper than anyone who just speaks, reads and writes English. Most children are advised to learn as many languages as they can. Why is this? Foreign languages like Spanish broaden the mind and this is another reason why learning it is
Diverse cultures within the United States are rapidly developing and growing and the educational sector is the number one target to ensure that English –learners are receiving adequate education. Within the educational sector there are administrators and teachers who are involved in students lives on a daily basis to ensure that education is equal. In order to achieve the vital objective of equality, socio-cultural influences on ELL students, bilingualism and home language use, parental and community resources, and partnerships between families and schools all have to be considered to provide an opportunity for equal education.
One of the biggest concerns facing a family about to move abroad is how will their children adapt and how will this change affect their development. Families that live abroad become a strong unit with an emphasis on family bonding; only your immediate family has this unique set of experiences that you all have together. One unique benefit is traveling the world and having an understanding of cultures different from your own. Taking the opportunity to explore the world teaches tolerance and helps children appreciate how blessed they are to see and experience things first hand. Not only do children learn to assimilate in their own multicultural academic world they are given the chance to apply real life situations to strengthen their problem solving skills.
“According to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, from the 1997-98 school year to the 2008-09 school year, the amount of ESL learners enrolled in U.S. public schools increased from 3.5 million to 5.3 million, a 51% increase” (WeAreTeachers Staff). The number of international students is very hide in that country “the percentage of students ages 5-12 who speak a language other than English at home has doubled since 1980” (Shi, Steen 64). In our days, around 200 dialect are be spoken in America (WeAreTeachers). “According to the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), Spanish was the most common home or first language, spoken by 71 % of ELL students, Chinese was second with 4%, followed by Vietnamese 3%, and French/Haitian Creole 2% ” ( Top Language 1).
There are many bilingual and multicultural people in the world today. For many, the choices of which language they use, and how they use it, correspond to what social or cultural community they belong to. Amy Tan, a Chinese American novelist, portrays this well in her short essay "Mother Tongue." Tan grew up in two vastly different worlds, using different "Englishes." The first world, which consists of her close family, she speaks what we may call "broken" or "limited" English. The second world, which is her business and professional world, Tan speaks and writes perfect standard and academic English. Having to "shuttle" between these two communities with very different languages has had many different positive and negative effects on