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Bilingualism as a blessing or curse
Challenges of bilingual teaching
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Recommended: Bilingualism as a blessing or curse
Since September 16, 1999 my parents instilled in me the importance of Spanish becoming my first language. My parents motivated me to learn Spanish as they always described how a bilingual student would have more opportunities throughout life. Since at an early age of my education I was moved to an English Language Development Class, Marisela Ornelas, was able to give me good foundations improving my essay structure. Also, while traveling to Washington, an experience at a restaurant made me look crass in front of people, encouraging me to gain a higher level of communication skills in English. I finally comprehend why my parents encouraged me to be bilingual as we are given opportunities like getting a Seal of Biliteracy. Even though I am very good with my Spanish, I also face challenges. For example, it's difficult making pauses as I talk, however I am able speak with great diction and my fluidity extremely well. On the other hand with writing, I face some slight difficulties with accents, but my sentence structure and word choice allows the reader to float through.
Through the use of Spanish, I have increased in knowledge and learned to appreciate my culture. Traditions are a key factor in providing a deeper insight of my culture. For instance,
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Each and every homework, test, and project offered by these courses helped me increase the knowledge I posses of literature and my culture. Last year I enrolled in Chicano Studies, and through a project I was able to enhance my cultural knowledge. For example, in one project along with my peers we were able to educate the class about the Mayan tribe, about their genius Architecture and how they were able to master technologies, being the most advanced empire. Without this course I would have a lack of knowledge about my ancient
However, extra academic courses helped expand my knowledge in these areas. I was able to take Phycology and Sociology, in High school. The study of why people do what they do really intrigued me because I was nothing like my siblings. Phycology and Sociology expanded my vocabulary and literacies. I looked at history from a different perspective, which interested me. It also introduced me to humanities courses. I pretty much skated by in my English classes. The books we read, I had no interest in, and I did not feel like I was getting anything out of my classes. This was until my senior year. My English teacher taught us how to read. I do not mean the words, but the content. Different methods of active reading, and note taking helped me have a deeper understanding of the content I was reading. The shift in instruction which was historically influenced helped me progress in my literacies (Panther, 2015, presentation). I could relate to the novels we were reading. For the first time in my education, I was reading novels that made me want to keep reading. After this, I began reading for myself, rather than
“Se habla Espanol” wrote by Tanya Maria Barrientos. She is growing up in Texas, but she was born in Guatemala. That causes she cannot speak Spanish like Latina. In the article, she talked about what the feeling as a Lantana without the ability to speak Spanish so well. Her parents give her a few of knowledge about speaking Spanish. Because, she grew up in a special era, which Mexican Americans were considered dangerous radical. Nowadays, this theory is politically incorrect. The author wants to find some people that like her, does not fit in Spanish culture and help them, giving them a big mental supporting. I’m from China, growing and living in different places, which have different language and culture habit.
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
On this land in the southwestern region of the United States of America, you will be fascinated by the cultural amalgamation of Native American, Hispanic, and Mexican culture. And here you do not learn cultures in just museums; you get the chance to explore the landscape and meet people and make the experience truly YOURS. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t speak Spanish.
According with Jean Piaget whose theory on child development has been a great influence in education; language development is the most important phase during the Preoperational stage of cognitive development. During this stage children develop and build up their knowledge and vocabulary by asking questions and expressing ideas through words, images and drawings. This stage is considerate to happen from two years of to seven years of age (Kendra Cherry). Language development has direct implications in the intellectual development of a child, and it is one of the main tools to develop our thinking process. We use words to store and access memories or other information. For Latinos children and especially recent arrivals whose language is Spanish entering to school where their primary language (Mother tongue) has no validation neither use may be traumatic and even hinder their future opportunities to succeed in a school system that is complete foreign in concept and in language. In order to integrate and create opportunities for the Latino students to succeed the in the educational system we must create programs that address the specific needs of the Latino community such as bilingual education where students learn to speak, read and write in their mother tongue language first.
A large number of people in the Hispanic community whether Hispanics are not able to get the English literacy skills that they need not because they want to keep born in Latin America or the United States, speak Spanish primarily. This is basically because in present day time, Hispanics are more likely to pass Spanish to their kids now than they have done in the past. (Ortiz, P.149) This is seen as a social problem, especially because of the fact that there is an increasing demand that English should only be taught in public school and it should also be spoken within the Spanish community. Even though Hispanics do speak a lot of Spanish most of the time, they still do learn English also, especially the young. But, because of the large flow of immigrants, the use of Spanish is used more often because they are constantly encountering immigrants who speak no English. (Ortiz, P. 150) Before hand there has been said to have been lower achievements when Hispanics make frequent use of the Spanish la...
Having an ethnic studies course that appeals to the student will cause them to do well in not only that class but their other classes as well. The student will learn to use their brains and skills in different ways that will rub off onto their other subjects causing them to do better there also. In precious knowledge the students aren 't doing that well in any classes before the raza program came, but then students started to do very well in not only the ethnic study course but several other subjects too. The teaching method in their classes is a problem posing pedagogy (Freire). A Problem posing type of learning is very interactive and hands on in a sense, and that is what interest students more than just copying notes and writing what they hear. The students have a voice in the classroom and they can safely express themselves and their thoughts with their peers as well as their teacher. The only way the students even unlocked their potential was through the ethnic study course being something that truly interested them. These ethnic study courses are overall beneficial to students, they help improve grades, are interesting and most important of all they build strong bonds and sense of community amongst
I feel that although it was a difficult move, I am happy that my parents decided to move me to a Bilingual Program. Now, I could ask my teachers questions in Spanish about the words or things I didn’t understand. This helped me get more knowledge in English and to have a better vocabulary. I am proud to be bilingual for many reasons. However, in this paper, I will only explain three of the reasons.
Many people immigrate to the United States from different countries to begin a better life. Once in the American territory, the first step for success is to learn the English language. Richard Rodriguez, the writer of "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" describes the language decisions he faced as a child: "Outside the house was public society; inside the house was private" (16). The English language is the primary language in the United States, and it must be learned to be able to communicate with the public world. The language that we speak at home is considered to be private because it is only used in the presence of the people we feel comfortable with, our family. Families immigrate to the United States from Mexico to find and give their children a better opportunity to succeed. The children of immigrants who have been raised or born in the United States were able to adapt much faster to the English language. The Spanish language, in the case of Mexicans, is part of our origin that most of us inherit from our ancestors although in the United States many, including me, seem to add a new language, which gives us better opportunities.
When I first started school, I remember how difficult it was for me to make the transition from Spanish to English. My Mom left me at the door of the school in the morning, but since I was placed in an English-only classroom, the next time I opened my mouth to speak to anyone was when she picked me up again that afternoon. I didn't know what anyone was saying around me, and to make matters worse, my teacher didn't speak a single word of Spanish. That day, like every other day, I came home crying because I felt like an outsider. That year was very difficult for me because I ended up in the back corner of the classroom not participating. As a result, I had to take several years of summer school in order to catch up, something that could have been avoided if I had been placed in a bilingual program. Several key advantages to bilingual education are that it allows for an emotionally safe transition, students don't fall behind in their lessons, and parents are not alienated from their children's education.
The issue of bilingual education is a much debated topic in this country and especially in this state. The Spanish-speaking populace has grown tremendously in these past decades, much of which has immigrated with Spanish as their only language. This has left the public school system with an interesting problem; how to successfully transition Spanish speaking students into an English environment. Public school systems have generally adopted one of two approaches to this problem. One is to allow students several years to develop their English with lessons taught in both languages. The other is a total immersion program where students are thrust into English-only lessons with little time develop their second language. Both approaches have ardent followers with valid arguments for each approach.
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.
A youngster who is bilingual uses two or more languages in their everyday life. Literacy acquisition is further more than being able to write and read, it is also the experiences that are gained that enables one to read and write. For example a bilingual minor whose home language is Spanish, is learning English , and therefore learning to read and write English. Through the literacy acquisition, and focus would not be on the language being taught but on the reading required to do so. Throughout my childhood, the idea in my head of having to go to a college education was greatly stressed, As a result, it was my expectation as the next generation minor, to continue in my studies and achieve a life of success and prosperity. Learning became the
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.
Over the last few years culture has become an increasingly essential component of language teaching. English, one of the most globalized and widespread language, is considered being a multifunctional language. It means that it may be a tool for different communicative purposes. Teaching English includes diverse purposes such as academic, professional or job-related function, and social-interaction. All of these areas held in common communicative skills. What is a matter of study is that most of Spanish students conceive English as a mere subject in high schools. Thus, it is necessary to encourage students to go further than just passing the course because it is a requirement They all are trained to pass