As I sit here and reflect on my blogging experience so far,
I find it funny that I struggled at first to set proper Google alerts to get
adequate pieces of information to blog about.
Now as I look at my overflowing inbox, I struggle to find time to read
all of the information waiting for me. I
can’t bring myself to just delete a few without reading every headline, because
I worry I might delete an interesting topic to reflect on. This week I really hoped to find a topic completely
new to me, and boy, I was not disappointed!
In my very
narrow experience of teaching students who are learning English as a second
language, the focus is always on teaching them English (deep, huh?). And that’s exactly what we do. We emerge them in English only classes and
gradually (at varying paces), they learn English, and slowly their need to be
near other students who speak their primary language decreases, and we are glad
for that. But what if we have been completely
wrong all this time?
Colon
(2019) speaks of the benefits of helping L2s retain and strengthen their home
language. ¿Qué es lo que dices?
Being multilingual affords students social, cognitive, and even health
benefits. In the long-term, come time
for employment, multilingualism can have economic benefits. Demand for workers who speak Spanish, Chinese
and Arabic have nearly doubled in just five years from 2010 to 2015 (Colon,
2019). This information has given me a
totally new view of my L2s. Typically, I
view my L2 learners as behind or hindered by their home-language, and the
sooner they don’t depend on it, the better.
In reality, many of these students should go on to take advantage of
becoming multilingual.
¡Mis
ojos están abiertos!
Several
states like Utah and Delaware are setting the stage for dual language education
(DLE). They are recognizing the need for
multilingual workers (Colon, 2019). Many
bilingual employees go on to make more many their peers in similar positions
and have more opportunities for advancement.
So, why do we educate L2s in such a way that they learn English at the
expense of their home-language?
California
has recognized the need for dual language (DL) programs as they have an extremely
large population of L2s (Briceno, Munoz, & Rodriguez-Mojica, 2019). In DL programs, it becomes necessary to find
bilingual teachers which are nearly an “extinct species” due to the previous 20
years of pushing English only education.
Briceno et al. (2019) recognizes the issue as a vicious cycle where
developing bilingual teachers is nearly impossible without bilingual education,
so where do we start? Experts believe
that there are many Spanish speakers in the U.S. who could become bilingual
teachers, so finding ways to get them there is our next greatest challenge in
ending the vicious cycle.
My small
school district in central Pennsylvania where I teach is FAR, FAR, FAR from
being anything like California. Our ESL
program is weak in its current state without even comparing it to DL
programs. So, while I’m sure we won’t be
focusing on hiring too many bilingual teachers anytime soon, I have seriously
had my eyes opened on our approach and have permanently had my perspective
altered for the better.
References
Briceno, A., Munoz, E., &
Rodriquez-Mojica, C. (2019, June 14). The Bilingual Teacher Shortage: A Vicious
Cycle. Retrieved June 27, 2019, from
https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/06/14/the-bilingual-teacher-shortage-a-vicious-cycle/
Colon, I. (2019, June 27). Research
Examines the Economic Benefits of Bilingualism. Retrieved June 27, 2019, from
https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/06/21/research-examines-the-economic-benefits-of-bilingualism/
This sounds like a really good article! I think that being bilingual would be beneficial for everyone, so it is a good question why we focus so much on teaching children to learn English rather than to focus on teaching them English and continuing to encourage their first language. I feel that the district that I work in also doesn’t have many resources when it comes to our L2 learners. We had a few families move in this past year that didn’t speak much English, so taking this class is very beneficial for me. It is making me aware of many resources I can use to help with L2 learners in my class. This past year one of the students that moved to the district that was a L2 learner was in my class and he only spoke a few words of English. He would go with the ESL teacher for a half hour each day, but then be in my classroom the rest of the day. There were often times I could tell he was frustrated because of not being able to always communicate what he wanted to say and not understanding much of what was being taught during the day. I couldn’t imagine being in a room all day and not understanding most of what was being said around me.
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