This has been a topic my wife and I discuss often - why aren't there more schools and programs to help promote other languages? Californians (now this is just my opinion, so don't fire back), as well as other states with high Latino populations, should learn Spanish. Our main argument - it may build tolerance to those "in the land down under;" (Mexico, not Australia as the song is about). It would be terrific if there was more support for Dual Immersion Schools, or support classes for Second Language Acquisition.
A fellow teacher friend of mine has his kids in a Dual Immersion program in Beaumont. Hearing them speak both languages fluently is awesome to hear! According to him, their test scores ranked higher than others in the district who were not learning a second language.
The last statement seems to contradict what the text says, about how such classes slow the learning process; other research seems to agree that students who learn two languages perform better at school because they are building up two different parts of the brain. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but you can get more information from (http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digest_pdfs/Instructed2ndLangFinalWeb.pdf), or the website itself at (http://www.cal.org/).
Whatever your stance may be on the subject, I strongly feel that our ELs need the extra support in L1, rather than being shoved into a English Only classroom with little or no support. It certainly wouldn't hurt, that's for sure . . . especially with test scores.
I think this is a subject that so many teachers think about. I am a special education teacher in Thermal and the school I teach at is 85% English learners. They do have different types of EL programs that students can go into ( it's up to the parents). One program is they are taught in their primary language for K and 1st grade and are introducted to English for only 30 minutes a day. Then it increases each year. The other program is like the one you discussed where they are taught in Spanish and English. The last program is a regular classroom. It's interesting that many parents want their EL student in the English class and not in the othe programs. Personally I think every student deserves the support that they need to learn.
ReplyDeleteI am sure dual-immersion programs would provide students with the opportunity to develop greater language ability and academic skills in general. The challenge may lie in that not all students may perform optimally under a dual—immersion educational setting. At the same time, I do believe students should be exposed to other languages beyond the current two-year requirement. Unfortunately, our current educational system is not geared for long-term development, but rather returns within specific pre-determined time frames.
ReplyDelete2BusyMom-
ReplyDeleteThat's great that they offer programs like that, and it's interesting how most parents want their students to be fully immersed without the support. I see their argument - learn the language as fast as they can - but I think for some kids they are simply tossed into a sink or swim situation. It's sad that most simply flounder . . .
I think many of the parents probably see the dual-immersion program as a crutch and feel their languge barrier inhibits them and therefore want full immersion. I can definitely see their reasoning.
ReplyDelete