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Bilingual education vs. english immersion
Bilingual education vs. english immersion
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Structured Immersion and the truth
Structured Immersion is an ESL (English as Second Language) program designed to be a bilingual instructional tool for students who are in a sense none native English speakers. Even though this program is still used in some US states as well as in other parts of the world, it is to my point of view a masked excuse of a program created to control the essence of a language by teaching on a need to know basis the true sense of bilingualism.
This Program is a really bad copy of a program used in Canada. In Canada their bilingual immersion is introduced through strong instruction in two languages for grades k through 12, the United States copied it but failed to implement the most crucial element which was that the students native language was not included in the instruction and teachers only taut in English.
The United States failed to recognize the importance of an English language learning student's first language. The program was based on teaching the language in a step by step structure, the source of its name, "Structure Immersion." This was leaving out the fact that the natural language acquisition process is more complex than just following the SI program, and that students were doing bad and just moving through the classes but were not able to adapt their English skills in later grades.
The material clearly states that even today some schools in the US still favor this program lacking the sense of reason, not knowing that ESL content classes using something called discovery learning has proven to be very effective.
This is telling us that there is more than one way to go through teaching ESL students, and that there is not really a "best way" to do it, but it helps if the teacher or instructor takes the time to correctly assess his or her students considering the students best interest and not the other way around.
Neglecting the student's native language is not the way to teach a second language; these students will not be bilingual but prisoners of an instruction that truly restricts them from it. To impose is not to teach, I guess that this is telling us to be original and to be considerate of our students this way they'll actually learn something and as teachers we would have accomplished our goal.
The legal and historical rationale of Bilingual Education has been around for quite some time and appears to a continuous issue with educators and political figures. Numerous articles have been written in favor and against Bilingual Education. The articles I read and summarized relate to some of the issues that have evolved from various proponents and opponents of how education should be presented to ELs in the United States. Summaries and a brief timeline of legislation up to the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) follow.
The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long
Jost, Kenneth. “Bilingual education vs. English immersion.” CQ Researecher. 11 December 2009. 19, 1029-1052. Web. 17 Feb. 2011
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
Despite the high number of ELL students, it is difficult to know, because of lack of data to see what type of educational programs they participate in. According to Prospects, a 1995 national survey, reading and math were taught in programs using bilingual education in less than half of first and third grade classrooms serving limited English proficient students. Offered more frequently were programs where instruction was offered only in English, or where instructional aides, not teachers, were the vehicles for native language instruction.
The debate now is whether there is sufficient studies proving the effectiveness of Bilingual education and the need to continue it in many states. In 1998 Los Angeles County passed Proposition 227 to create bilingual education programs. (LA Times October 23.1998) Because of the passing of this bill many students were left in limbo waiting for teaching plans to be made. As well as the budget to be reformed to accommodate the extra expenses of a bilingual education programs, books, and to hire the proper teachers and aids to assists in the new bilingual classes. Often there are only a few children in a classroom being taught in their native language whil...
This was the major driving force of TBE. If put in place properly students would leave just as proficient in their first language as in English, but with this idea some critiqued whether there was enough resources to accomplish that outcome and whether or not it was able to undertake it within a timely fashion to actually teach the students
When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.
Children are better learners than adults except in the area of the pronunciation of words. That is why the second language program will be accepting children who are in elementary, they will be taught how to read signs, and learn how to speak in the desired second language. The objective goal of the second language program is to get students ready to speak another language as if it were their primary language. The second language program will not be as any other school program because it will require dedication, responsibility, and focus. Kids now are lazy and also don’t communicate well with other people, which is important because they will need to know how to communicate when they graduate high school, but because they were not taught how to they are lacking that skill. Students because they are being taught out the book they don’t get to learn different skills that will be useful when they leave high school. In the program students won’t be learning straight off the book they will be assigned a pen pal who they will be writing to not in English but in their chosen second language, and every so often they will talk on Skype this will show if they are understanding the language; with the interaction that the students will be doing they will develop communicative skills that will be helpful when they are out of high
This paper describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of bilingual education programs in developing literacy skills for children in kindergarten and first-grade levels in North Carolina. This will be done through comparing the effectiveness of two literacy skills programs- the English-only program and English-Spanish program- in developing native and second languages’ literacy skills. The English-Spanish classes follow the transitional bilingual education (TBE) program. Teachers in the said bilingual program have attained their bilingual education certifications. State law also mandates that the teachers assigned to teach in bilingual programs in North Carolina must have the suitable bilingual teacher certification (De Ramírez & Shapiro, 2007, p.798).
Dual language is a form of education in which students are taught to read and write in two languages. The majority of dual language programs in the United States teach in English and Spanish, although there are emerging programs that teach in Mandarin, Japanese and Hindi. The programs start of mostly in kindergarten sand 1st grade and continue throughout primary education, in addition some dual language programs depending on the grade continue through middle and high school. Even Hayward’s own Burbank elementary and Winton middle school are offering dual language programs. Each level of teaching uses a different language ratio in which class is instructed the classes start off with a 90:10 ration and later as years pass the ration becomes a steady 50:50 (Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn J,2001). The goals of dual language immersion programs are to get children to become both bi-literate and bilingual, in other words, they will be able to speak and write fluently in two different languages. Dual language programs are becoming more and more common most of them are in public school but there are some beginning to become present private and charter schools. Dual language education should be introduced in all elementary schools beginning in the Kindergarten to boost achievement for English language learners, benefits it will bring to the community, outstanding brain benefits and lastly cost efficiency in education across the United States.
Bilingual education involves teaching material in two languages. In America, this includes ESL (teaching English as a second language) for students whose native language is not English. Bilingual education simply helps those students who would otherwise be helpless in actually learning the material in their English-only classes. It also helps English-speaking Americans learn another language, like Spanish. This is useful to them because America’s demographics are indeed becoming more diverse and thus, better language skills should be employed. Implementing bilingual education in the school curriculum is due to the passing of legislation at the government level. As of now, English immersion programs exist because of the Bilingual Education Act (a.k.a Title VII), which was passed along with the Civil Rights Act in 1964. (Cerda; Hernandez, 2006) At that time, it was expected to change ethnoc...
Out of all the American institutions that exist today, the educational system has one of the greatest impacts on the lives of people, especially for immigrants and their children who do not know how to speak English. The English language is a whole new, different perspective for people who come to America for the first time; their whole environment changes as well. The majority of the people who come to the United States are Hispanics, who are usually at the poverty level. Like everyone who come to America, they want to pursue a better quality of life, and in order to do that, you have to know how to speak the universal language, the English language. The myth of education here is that everyone can learn the same way through the English language—but that is not the case.
In our educational system we have students that come from all around the world, but according to figure 3.1 on page 89 throughout years the Hispanic population has increased. Because of the increase of non-english speakers in our educational system, I believe that future teachers must prepare with ideas and ways to teach these students English and make them feel welcomed. I, being bilingual could not personally explain how it was like to be ignorant of the English language because i started school at the age of four and my parents said i learned the language in three months. I believe that being bilingual is very prestigious because it is an opportunity for better understanding of the non-English speaking community and better pay. Throughout the years i have heard that knowing a second language and speaking it is considered unpatriotic. I completely disagree with this assumption because students who come from other countries will grow up like i did loving this country more than their native country because that is what the educational system teaches you. In Addition, the philosophies mentioned in the book really impacted me. I was amazed on the variety of philosophies a teacher has the ability to choose from to instruct their course. Using a variety of philosophies in a class is a great way to teach every student because it is evident that each person learns in different
In 2009, teachers of a New Jersey school banned foreign languages and stated, “any language other than English will not be tolerated" (Debaron 1). This situation was soon no longer allowed. While over ten percent of the total adolescent education systems contain emergent bilinguals, a whopping sixty percent of those students are educated in only English (Bale). Maria Estela Brisk, a Boston College Education professor, believes, “schools has wasted much energy in the search for a "perfect" model and the best way to learn English” when they could just focus on proving “quality education” to every student in the system (1). Teacher’s main priority should consist of effectively teaching their students to prepare them for the future, but currently there are a lack of certified bilingual education teachers. When students are taught more in different ways, they can educationally benefit their cognitive abilities, involving the brain with “mathematics, problem solving, logic and memory”, can be improved to create an overall better student. Even by learning another language at a earlier age can contribute to __________. Learning another language will be