What would happen to a city that has a declining rate of bilingualism and has always thrived and been successful because of it? Nothing but a bad outcome. That, amongst other crucial consequences, is exactly what Phillip M. Carter, author of “It’s Time for Miami to Embrace Bilingualism” warns us about in his editorial. This article was originally published in the print edition of Diario las Americas on April 15, a Hispanic news outlet with its main focus in America’s cultural and political events. This online news article is targeted to young Latinos born in the United States. The purpose is to create awareness and inform them about the significance of bilingualism in their individual lives and its contributions to society. In the article,
Bilingualism should be celebrated and encouraged, rather than stamped out. Anzaldúa recalls that a teacher told her, “If you want to be American, speak ‘American.’ If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (2947). The irony in her teacher’s statement is that Mexicans and Native Americans inhabited North America long before it was colonized; so, technically speaking, Anzaldúa belonged in America more than her teacher did.
The author points out a number of factors that are key to the prosperity of the Hispanic people in America. He does not just focus on the cultural belonging part as the other liberals are claiming, but Greg puts his main focus and consideration on the future of the Hispanic people, and the prosperity of their generations to come and not just their personal short lived desires. If bilingual education is established in the American system of teaching, then it would be a mean that most of them will un...
Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez 26). He explains that the imperative "radical self-reformation" required by education is lost by offering bilingual education and such a program suggests a place where the need for a sense of public identity disappears. A bilingual program gives a student the opportunity to be separated from real life and institutes a life that leaves out an essential understanding of the world. Bilingual students do not know the complexities of their world, including emotion, ethics, and logic, because the bilingual program secludes the eager minds to a much simpler, more naïve idea of how the society works, leaving out the confidence of belonging in public. This situation not only limits the education experience for non-English speaking students, but also hinders the further education of English speaking students by erecting a communicat...
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
Bilingual teaching in American schools is it good, bad, or both? Who is right in this national debate? Both sides make some impressive arguments for their side of the issue. Even the government has mixed issues when it comes to bilingual teaching. However, the government has shown their views in their budgets and their law making. Another question comes up with the bilingual teaching is should America make English its official language? Some say there is no need for it, and yet 22 states as of 1996 declared English their official language. Looking into some of these issues may bring some insight as to what the problem may be.
In the essay “Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Official Language” (1989) by Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, he claims that if America wants to be a truly unified country, then there English needs to be set as the official language and wants every person including immigrants to speak it on a normal base. Hayakawa supports his claim by appealing to pathos in the description of how children who are not taught English from an early age will always be behind their peers, he discusses how countries such as Belgium and India have several official languages and how it is “a chaotic mess”, and explains how bilingual programs in California do more harm than good because they start the child off in their native language and never allow them to fully
This paper focuses on the issue of bilingualism in Hartford, while also looking at the context under which Puerto Ricans in Hartford find themselves in their current situation. These issues are examined with the use of historical fact, along with information and sentiments on current events in the Hartford community concerning the issue of bilingualism and culture.
The number of English language learning (ELL) students in the U.S. has grown dramatically in the last decade. According to a 1991 national study, there are over 2,300,000 students in grades K through 12 who are English language learners (August & Hakuta, 1997). This number has grown by over 1,000,000 since 1984. The majority of these students are Spanish-speakers (73%), followed by Vietnamese-speakers (3.9%). Because the overwhelming proportion of ELL students are Spanish speakers, the issue of bilingual education is largely a Latino one.
Bilingualism, a very controversial topic to debate in today’s United States. People generally define bilingualism as the ability of using two languages that individuals have. However, this is not the reason why that bilingualism becomes such a debatable issue. In this case, bilingualism is defined as the government’s use of languages other than English for public services in order to support the immigrants’ lives in the United States. People who support bilingualism want the government to continue having this kind policies. They think that bilingualism helps immigrants to assimilate into the American culture and moreover, it will unify everyone who are on this land. Although bilingualism provides some kind of benefits toward immigrants, they cannot solve the problems in the deep root. Bilingualism should not be continued in the U.S. Why? It reduces the immigrants’ incentive to learn English, threatens national unity, and costs so much.
In the article, “Public and Private Language”, Richard Rodriguez argues that bilingual education delays learning a “public language” and developing a public identity”. I can relate to Richard’s story because my family and me moved to America when I was young and we also had the same struggle learning a new language. I agreed with Rodriguez when he expressed that he didn’t feel like a true American until he mastered the English language because English is the first and main language in America.
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.
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
Bilingual education have been a serious issue for immigrant student. Beginners in education who move to the United States, have an issue with communication, in how to understand English, and losing their identity. For immigrants students, not knowing a second language affect seriously their life in the United States. In his article “An Education in Language,” Richard Rodriguez presents how the English language became a barrier that changed him and his family. Rodriguez explains how hard the challenge of understanding English was for him during his early years of school. Besides, Rodriguez illustrates that his parents’ lives were affected by lacking education and their opinion about it. In addition, he moved over to pursue higher education.
America, a country built on immigration dating back to the early 1600s Mayflower voyage, continues to thrive as a melting pot full of various cultures and ethnicities. In the past, many immigrants came to America due to the offered freedoms and equality, yet today, many naturalized citizens suffer with injustices, including with educational practices. The use of bilingual education, which teaches students in both English and their native language, has become a controversial topic. In 1968, the Bilingual Education Act, which recognized and offered education to students who were lacking English, was passed, yet the topic still seems questionable to some. Bilingual education provides a variety of beneficial attributes to help foreigners by improving their lives as native speakers, with education benefits, health benefits, and future opportunities.