Bi-lingual Education: What is it for?
by Kate GawfOctober 20th, 2005 at 10:50:57
While buying a burrito from a food cart in a parking lot, I got into a conversation with the proprietor, a native English-speaking North American. She mentioned her growing friendship with Maria, the Mexican woman in the next cart over. Neither speaks the other’s language, but they’re each learning a word a day – what a great idea. But then she told me, “I hear her talking Spanish to her three-year old, and I tell her ‘NO! Don’t do that!’ because that kid needs to be learning English. You know?â€
Actually, yes. I do know. And since I was in a hurry that day and couldn’t take the time to either strangle or enlighten her, I would like to make up for that here today and at least enlighten somebody.
No, talking to your kid in a language you haven’t even begun to master is not a strategy for producing a person articulate in any language. The result is that the child has no model of any fluent language. She doesn’t get to hear Spanish or fluent English.
But let’s say she happens to be linguistically inclined and also has the luck to start in American school at the age of five and she shifts to a fluent model of English. What happens to the Spanish? Out the window. And that, my friends, is an opportunity lost.
In language pedagogy that is known as subtractive bilingualism: the new language supplants the native language. And when it comes to Spanish, that seems to actually be the GOAL of our education system – get the kids to stop speaking Spanish and just do English.
Spanish, bad. English, good. Isn’t that the message? It was certainly the message the burrito woman had firmly planted in her head. As if you can’t fit two languages into one brain. Au contraire, my dear. At that age, you can fit just about anything in that brain. So why not do it? If it’s your native language, go ahead and speak Spanish to the kids at home, all the time, no matter their age.
If school were taught bi-lingually, the native Spanish speakers would keep their Spanish and learn fluent English, and our native English speakers would acquire Spanish. English and Spanish are in a dead heat to be the second most spoken language in the world. Everyone coming out of such schools would be completely fluent in both languages, and therefore equipped to interact and do business with double the number of people accessible to them as monolinguals.
October 20th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
When I was a child we lived in Sweden. Even though both my parents spoke Swedish we spoke English at home. After only one year I was completely fluent in Swedish as was my brother. Children have amazing capabilities when it comes to languages. That’s why I’ve never understood why, in the US school system, we wait until kids are going through puberty to teach them new languages. Other countries begin language learning in pre-school. My niece in India is seven and already speaks three languages: her native Murati, Hindi and English. And now she’s learning German.
October 20th, 2005 at 6:46 pm
The trouble I have with that is where do we stop? There are a multitude of languages spoken in the US, so why do we choose to teach spanish? Why not Russian, or French, or Japanese, or Chinese, or some sort of international business language? I understand we are dealing with Mexican nationals who are working here, many illegally, but why don’t they learn our language? If I moved to Mexico, they wouldn’t be required to learn the language I speak, regardless of what it might be. I feel it is taxing a system which is becoming stretched beyond its means.
October 20th, 2005 at 10:42 pm
Gene-
The children of the migrant workers do end up speaking English. I know several teenagers who’s parents came here to work on farms. Those teenagers have turned out to be some of the brightest students I know. Did you by chance see the movie Spellbound about the national spelling bee? Remember the Mexican girl who’s parents didn’t speak English but she ended up being one of the top spellers at the national spelling bee? So the kids are learning English. The fact that you insinuate that US born children shouldn’t learn “their” language because if you went to Mexico they wouldn’t be required to learn your language is a ridiculous argument.
Learning languages is something the rest of the world does. We’re just learning that maybe it’s a good idea if our children also learn to speak multiple languages.
October 21st, 2005 at 11:46 am
That is my question, too, Gene: why not those other languages? The only answer is money. If not for that little barrier, any of those languages would be good choices for bilingual education.
The costs of offering an array of different second language choices would no doubt be prohibitive for our public school system, so choosing one for the whole state is a more viable strategy. From the brain development point of view, it doesn’t really matter which second language is learned. Spanish makes sense because it’s already so widely spoken in many American communities, and support in one’s environment is a significant asset to language acquisition.
The point of bi-lingual education is not to try to please every immigrant group represented in our country. The point is to raise a population of Americans that can get their brains around a second language. Any second language. We have an obligation to develop children’s brains in this way if they are to thrive in today’s global world. That’s only going to happen if the second language learning begins in early childhood.
I teach languages to adults. The difference in performance between the students already bilingual or multilingual in other languages, and the students for whom the target language is their first stab at language learning, is absolutely astounding.
October 21st, 2005 at 7:49 pm
Sid,
I don’t feel my case is a ridiculous argument at all. If I moved to Mexico, and my kids went to a school there, do I think realistically that the school would feel required to teach an english class just because my child speaks english? The answer is no. I am not trying to single out spanish as a language or Mexicans as a people. I am just saying why not Chinese, or German, or Korean, or Iraqi, or even American sign language. I feel, since this country was based on the English language, and instead of confusing people of other nationalities with requirements of learning 2 separate languages, it seems to me it would be more fair and consistent to teach only 1. The public education system is constantly crying about their lack of funding for one reason or another. Why should the school system be required to teach a language which is, unfortunately, spoken by a large number of people who, for one reason or another, are not paying taxes, which would help support the system which is being required to teach that particular language? If someone wants to learn another language, great. I just feel it should be an option, not a requirement. My great grandfather came here from Sweden(maybe we’re related!!!) and was proud of the fact that he became a citizen and learned the language and customs. I don’t understand why today’s immigrants do not feel the same way.
And just to set the record straight, I do not consider my self a racist or a bigot. I realize people have no choice in who their parents are, and that we should only be judged by our actions and how we treat others. I have many friends who are of a different skin color than me, and I have relatives who are deaf. To me it makes no difference.
October 21st, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Gene-
I think one of the reasons so many children are learning Spanish is because it’s a popular language; second most spoken language in the world. So it could be considered a practical matter.
Also, children in Mexico are learning English in the schools. You go to every country in the world and English is always taught in the schools. It’s a given. The language of the world (and the internet) is English, English, English and English.
And stop being like the French. You’re acting like no one is learning or speaking English.
October 22nd, 2005 at 11:07 am
No, I just resent the fact that spanish is being heavily promoted regardless of how people feel.
October 22nd, 2005 at 12:49 pm
OK, Gene. First of all I want to say, No – yours is not a ridiculous argument. It’s an argument. I for one tend not to use responses like “that’s a ridiculous argument,†because I think it antagonizes people and causes them to dig in their heels and become entrenched in their position. See? You’re all over Sid now with your opposing opinion, as if you didn’t even read my response to you at all, which actually contains answers to some of your questions.
The fact is, I totally see your point, I really do. I’ve heard it before, and I understand where it comes from. A summary of many people’s feelings on this topic might go like this: “We are so burdened because we have all these immigrants depleting our resources right and left. Now they want to make us spend even more money by insisting that we teach them in their own language when they should be willing to learn our language.â€
The problem with that view is that it lumps a number of issues together that don’t all belong in the same package. If we pretend for a moment that we have no immigrants in this country at all, and look at bilingual education (not necessarily with Spanish) as a way to produce bilingual people, no one will deny that it’s a good idea for all our children (as I maintained in my last response).
As for the other issues you’re concerned about: immigration, language barriers, and economics – they’re there, they’re huge, and yes, they overlap. If you will bear with me while I post on these different angles, I can offer you a view through a different window. I think you’ll find that we’re all more in agreement on some of these topics than we think. Look for my next posting on “Why don’t these people just learn our language?†Coming soon to a blog near you.
October 22nd, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Kate,
Thanx. You’re right. I “dug in my heels” and became closed-minded toward the topic. Also, I am in the process of doing a MAJOR landscaping and house remodel, getting it ready to sell, and the only time I can respond is either in the mornings, when I’m rushed to get to work, or in the evenings when this old man is tired and dirty from trying to work like a young man all day. Looking forward to your posts.
October 27th, 2005 at 10:29 am
Given our current trade policies and world demographic trends, I’m recommending to my daughter that she get the (three year old) grandson enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese, or maybe Urdu or Hindi class ASAP.
When he gets his Ph.D. in a couple of decades, he’ll make a nice majordomo for one of the new masters…….
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Right on Kate. I am starting my own bilingual school. It is going to teach Mandarin-English, Spanish-English and Korean-English. Come and visit me at http://www.bambinischool.com
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