Seven things you should know about bilingual education

The State of California has committed to developing a bilingual population to the point that in 2018, then State Superintendent Tom Thorlaxon launched the plan. California Global 2030which states that by that date, at least 50% of all public school students in grades kindergarten through 12 will participate in bilingual programs that result in proficiency in two or more languages.

There are many myths about bilingual education in the United States, so here are seven things you should be aware of.

Bilingual education is more American than apple pie

This land we call the United States of America was originally inhabited indigenous peoples who spoke hundreds of languages. The conquest and colonization that followed came in waves, at first in East Coast This called for a multilingual education system in which schools supported the preservation of heritage languages ​​so that families could communicate with their roots.

These schools were built to support the preservation of the ancestral native language. Also teach the common language necessary for successful interaction in these new lands.
First laws to allow bilingual education dated 1839.. But the idea of ​​preserving heritage languages ​​has a history going back to to the founding of the country. In the first century of the new country, schools appeared in the territories where classes were held in German, Spanish And French, among many other languages. Educational policy was determined locally and thus could reflect the communities that arrived in the New World.

Bilingual or multilingual education is a broad and complex term.

Initially, this refers to any school curriculum in more than one language. It can be seen differently depending on the country. For the California Department of Education, multilingual education refers to programs that “prepare students for linguistic and academic proficiency in English and other languages“.

This is the definition that has historically been the reason legal problems, political maneuvering And media misinformation, indicates multiple targets. The term bilingual education can refer to everything from transitional bilingual programs that aim to develop the English language to two-way bilingual immersionl (TWBI) with a focus on full bilingualism. and bilingual literacy, usually starting in the eighth grade. The bottom line is that many of these programs target students who speak languages ​​other than English. This will come up again in the next paragraph.

Bilingual Education: It Might Not Mean What You Think

The general nature of the term leads to a bilingual entity with several connotations.
Over the past 60 years, the most common type of bilingual education program has been the transition program, which has focused on the transition to English with little or no emphasis on the preservation of mother tongues.
Recently, there has been an increase in applications for bilingual education programs that allow English as a second language added to another, usually Spanish. Bilateral Bilingual Immersion (TWBI) this happens in classes with an equal number of English-speaking students and a “partner language”, although even these models differ. In some cases, the proportions of languages ​​\u200b\u200bmay differ, while in others the division into equal parts remains. Some programs include a group within the school, while others include all students. Although statistics are not available for this particular type of program, they refer to another key term: Double language immersion (DLI) is a generic term for all bilingual education programs. regardless of the students’ native language. DLI programs they more than tripled in the last decade. For more information on specific terminology, see Center for Applied Linguisticswhich has a valuable glossary of terms.

The current popular version of bilingual education arose from resistance during the Civil Rights Movement.

Indeed, the struggle for bilingual and bicultural education in the form of two-way immersion in the United States has arisen both from the United States itself and from waves of migration and global cultural issues.

In addition, between 1960 and 1962, Operation Pedro Pan, the largest migration of unaccompanied minors in the history of the Western Hemisphere, was carried out, as a result of which, shortly after the establishment of the city government, Fidel Castro. Both Cubans and Americans believed that this regime would be shortso the education of these Cuban children was based on the assumption that they would soon return to Cuba to be educated in Spanish. Therefore, the goal for these students was not total immersion in English.
In 1963, using a Ford Foundation grant, Miami Elementary School Coral Path Elementary, have developed a program that would include approximately 50% of English-speaking children and the same number of Hispanic. Thus was born two-way bilingual immersion in the USA.. The model has grown and now exists in dozens of states.
California has taken the initiative whose goal is to have 50% of students enrolled in programs similar to Coral Way by 2030. The benefits of this model of bilingual education have been repeatedly studied and found to be beneficial for different types of students.

Education bilingualism does not delay language learning does not increase disability

“Poor (in Spanish in the original) will be confused. Many times people have been told that bilingualism causes delays. Or that for a child with autism or Down syndrome, more than one language can be confusing or cause additional delay. The good news is that science tells us that this is not true. All children, including Down syndrome, autism and others disabilitycan thrive in a bilingual environment.
Misunderstanding of children’s bilingual language development may be due to errors in logic or measurements. If children are only tested in one language, the result may be slightly lower vocabulary than others. But this ignores the fact that in general their vocabulary is completely different, and that the combination of both languages ​​gives a higher score than monolingual English speakers. Bilingualism does not cause confusion or delay., on the contrary, it seems to provide cognitive benefits as well greater social understandingHe. For children with disabilities, access to their heritage or mother tongue in immersion programs has the advantage of allowing them to build on their existing language skills. Despite this, parents of children with disabilities often they are advised not to participate in diving programs. This is not consistent with research and is incorrect.

When it comes to bilingual education, Californians have a say and a choice

California has a love/hate relationship with bilingual education. In 1976, the state legislature passed Bilingual Bicultural Chacon-Moscone Law, which gave bilingual education the status of a right for all students. Unfortunately, in the 1990s anti-immigrant sentiment it pushed aside the rights of many people. In 1998, voters approved Proposition 227, which banned bilingual education in the state. This policy made it extremely difficult to develop and maintain immersion programs and shut down bilingual teacher training programs. Fortunately, voters changed their minds in 2016 and Proposition 58 allowed bilingual education again. Currently, the state’s 997 school districts have the power to determine the path they want to take with respect to bilingual education. Now, parents have an important voice. Each school district has its own system for determining how and when to deliver language programs, but parents are the driving force in this process. Under current regulations, if 30 people in a school apply to participate in an immersion program, the school district should conduct a study about the possibility of creating a language program.

Bilingual education benefits everyone

The results are here. Bilingual education benefits both English and non-English speakers. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of language immersion for native speakers. Thus, Hispanic children who participate in DLI programs in Spanish have better outcomes than their peers who do not.
An interesting study about this happened almost by accident. Portland, Oregon public schools had so many students applying for language immersion programs that they had to develop a lottery system. This prompted them to analyze the results of the DLI programs. Their analysis showed that all participating students improved their test scores in reading and comparable scores in math and science. Stanford University, for its part, recently completed longitudinal study who found that Hispanic students who started Spanish immersion speaking mostly Spanish were able to reclassify as English proficient faster than their Hispanic peers enrolled in non-immersion programs. Their GPA and scores on standardized tests were higher.
If you live in a community that wants to explore an immersion program, please let the school know. Programs take time and resources to develop, but they can be implemented, especially in communities where there are many languages. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected public schools and some have had to reform their programs. The Franklin McKinley School District in San Jose, California has overhauled its academic structure to take advantage of Vietnamese students in its community and created a Vietnamese language immersion program. Hence, increase in the number of students at a time when most neighborhoods are falling into disrepair. Change, growth and cultural sustainability in one language pack? Yes please!

Marcella Cardoza McCollum is a bilingual speech pathologist and assistant professor at San Jose State University. His research interests focus on access to education for underrepresented student groups.

This article was originally published in English in Caló News, Here.