Kudos to the blogger who commented on the bilingual program. I'd be sorry to see my bilingual teacher friends without a job, but wouldn't it be nice if the if the non-English kids were encouraged to learn the language of America? Have you noticed how convenient it's becoming to be non-English/Spanish speaking, in Las Cruces, NM? Or, for that matter, almost anywhere in the U.S.? You 'English-only' folks are finding that it's more work, and time-consuming, to be English-only. Examples: if you're on the phone with a business, or trying to reach someone in the bureaucracy, you must push a button in order to use English. If you're walking down the aisle, in front of the toys section in Wal-Mart, only those who read Spanish are able to see what's on the shelves in front, or behind, you. Reading the instructions in a manual for something you've just purchased, is a confusing puzzle... sorting the pages in your search for English. Bet it will be quite awhile, though, before the businesses will be dumb enough to ask us to write our checks in some other language. Are you getting as frustrated as I am?
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This comment is for my MONOlingual friend who believes assimilation works and bilingual education should be discarded. Please look up the research done by professionals and specialists in the area of bilingual education before stating your opinion like if they were proven facts. Furthermore, please cite where you are getting your information. Hah, didn't think so.
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I agree with the post about bi-lingual education being a bad idea. Not only should all Americans speak English, total immersion is by far the easiest and quickest way to learn a language. On the other hand, by the time a child reaches the age of twelve, the language acquisition trait has almost completely disappeared, making it much harder to learn a second language. I think all English speaking elementary students should be given the opportunity to take Spanish as a Foreign Language while they have a good chance at learning it.
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I didn't know that Newt Gingrich read this blog, much less left comments.
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Whenever there is a discussion of bilingual education, I always trot out the story of my niece. She moved to Venezuela at the age of 13, speaking no Spanish. She attended a private school where she was never spoken to or instructed in English. Her lessons were in Spanish and she was expected to respond in Spanish. The first 6 months were very difficult. There was no tutor, just her hard work. She returned to the US after two years, fluent in spoken and written Spanish. I also remember an incident at one of the local elementary schools where a monolingual Spanish-speaking child was enrolled by relatives. When the child was placed in bilingual ed, they family threw a fit. The reason they sent the child to the US was to learn English and they felt that immersion in an English-only classroom was the best way.
posted by LCPS1 @ 6:16 AM
8 Comments:
As a parent whose English speaking child attended a local elementary billingual program for grades 1-5 I would NEVER encourage another parent to enroll their child. In fact I would HIGHLY discourage it.
I feel as though this was a horrible decision for my child.
This was quite possibly the worst mistake I could have made regarding my child's education. Those years are gone. Gone, too, is the Spanish I had hoped would benefit my child. And there is nothing I can do now.
I will always wonder how my child's academic progress would be different today had the focus had been on challenging students' strengths in English when needed instead of spending that time on Spanish areas (reading for example).
I don't think what is best for the children in the long run has been the driving force in this program. Let's just make sure the kids make our program look good so we continue to receive funding.
My child just brought home a letter from his middle school telling me that a student committed suicide. I feel for the family! As a single parent, I struggle every day trying to raise my three kids. Lately, my middle school kid seems depressed these days, too. He keeps talking about getting yelled at all the time, and how his teachers doesn't like him. What should I do? Noone at that school wants to listen to him or me.
I grade my 5th graders' papers every day. But, who should correct my building principal's papers?
Hurray for the Houston schools!!!
I vote for middle school students to have free and open access to condoms!
Imus...I heard the national gay pride organization has a job opening!
ALL coaches should be employed at the school where they coach!
"Not only should all Americans speak English, total immersion is by far the easiest and quickest way to learn a language". Says who? It's funny that when a few people hear or go through one bad bilingual education situation, everyone is ready to throw it out the window. Maybe we should fire all of our reading teachers and specialists because more than half of our students are NOT reading at grade level. Maybe we should do away with Special Education since almost all of our schools didn't make AYP in that subgroup. It's the "quickest and easiest" according to one blogger.
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