Bilingual+Education+2

Bilingual Immersion and Dual Immersion in Todays Schools By Kate Bowen

I chose the following articles and website because I feel they give a good representation of the information that is out there concerning bilingual education in the United States. They also cover very different aspects of it. There are many approaches to this type of education. This is also a very disputed topic.

1) Quintanar-Sarellana, Rosalinda (July, 2005). ?Si Se Puede! Academic Excellence and **//Bilingual//** Competency in a K-8 Two-Way **//Dual//** **//Immersion//** Program . Journal of Latinos and Education, v3 n2 p87-102 2004. 16 pp. (Peer Reviewed Journal)

There is a lot of negative talk about bilingual education and dual immersions programs. The main concern surrounding these programs is that students will suffer academically. This article talks about the positive aspects of having bilingual education in our schools, by looking at one school in particular. The school is Monteverde K-8 School. Monetverde uses a two-way bilingual immersion program. Monteverde has 520 students, where 68% are Hispanic, 29% are Caucasian, and 3% other. If you look at a kindergarten class, only 1% of the students are bilingual, but if you look at and eighth grade class, 99% of the students are bilingual. What is a two-way bilingual immersion program and how does it work? This program integrates language minority students with language majority students and teaches the subjects in both languages. Most of the time this means there will be, for example, an English language classroom and a Spanish language classroom for the same subject, or grade, depending on if it is an elementary school or middle school. Any two-way bilingual immersion program should be at least 4-6 years. This is said to be the time needed to develop social and academic proficiency. __TABLE 1__ (Quintanar-Sarellana) (Indicators of successful two-way bilingual immersion programs)
 * 1) Duration of the instructional treatment.
 * 2) Focus on academic curriculum.
 * 3) Optimal language input for instruction.
 * 4) Separation languages for instruction
 * 5) Ratio of English to the non-English language use.
 * 6) Additive bilingual environment.
 * 7) A positive school environment,
 * 8) Classroom composition.

2) Hamilton, Kendra (June, 2007). Bilingual or Immersion? Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v23 n5 p23-26 Apr 2006. 4 pp.

Bilingual or Immersion? That is the question. Eight years ago, a proposition, Proposition 227, was introduced to California that almost completely eliminated bilingual education in the K-12 schools. They now use the English-only approach to teaching, also known as "English immersion." California spent $2.5 million to study if English immersion really works better than bilingual education. "We don't see conclusive evidence that bilingual education is superior to English immersion, and we don't see conclusive evidence for the reverse," Merickel says. "We think it's the wrong question. It's not the model of instruction that matters -- it's the quality." (Hamilton) They also noted that kids did better if they were able to have some of their instruction done in their native language.

In 1997, and an organization to fight bilingual education was started, English for the Children. The fight against bilingual education is happening all over the country, but especially in border states and states with high numbers of native Spanish speaker, such as Arizona and Colorado. After the proposition was enacted in California, test scores went up, and other states decided to introduce propositions of their own. While some states are only using English immersion, there are still many who are fighting for bilingual education.

This is an interesting table:

Six Myths About Bilingual Education
--Dr. Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California
 * MYTH 1:** Bilingual programs are mostly concerned with maintaining the ethnic culture of the family.
 * MYTH 2:** Bilingual education doesn't work; it prevents children from acquiring English.
 * MYTH 3:** Children languish in bilingual programs for many years, never learning enough English to study in mainstream classes.
 * MYTH 4:** Bilingual programs teach only in the native language.
 * MYTH 5:** Immigrants, especially Spanish-speakers, are refusing to learn English.
 * MYTH 6:** Bilingual education is not done in other countries, only in the United States.

3) Reyes, Sharon Adleman (Januaray, 2007). Beetles and Butterflies: Language and Learning in a Dual Language Classroom . Journal of Latinos & Education, v6 n1 p81-92 2007. 12 pp. (Peer Reviewed Journal)

This is a story about a second grade classroom at the end of the year. The teacher, Ms.Sontag, has incorporated Spanish into her class. The class has pets, beetles and butterflies. It is understood by the students that whenever they do anything relating to beetles or butterflies, they must speak in Spanish, other than that, they can converse in English. Ms.Sontag encourages them to use their second language by speaking it herself. She has used songs, like, "La Cucaracha" to help introduce new words to her class in Spanish. "La cucarach, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar, porque le falta, porque le falta, patas para caminar." The teacher knows and understands that it can be hard for the students to speak in Spanish, so with gentle reminders, she encourages the students to use the Spanish they've learned. Ms.Sontag helps them with new words, and is very patient.

4) Connolly, C. Children love learning Spanish or English. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from Volando~Flying http://volando-flying.com/index.html

About the author: Corby Connolly is an ESL teacher in Boulder, Colorado. Corby grew up in Mexico and became fluent in Spanish. She believes that bilingual education is essential, she even sent her daughter (me!) to a bilingual school. From that, she developed a Spanish/English teaching program. The program is a story of a caterpillar (Gita) and a Crow (Sr.Cuervo). The story is of their friendship and their adventures. By using audio and visual components, students and teachers are able to learn how to read, understand, and speak the language they are learning. The program is meant to be used in elementary schools, especially in grades K-2. The students become friends with the characters and want to follow their story. Corby believes that the most hands-on experience, especially when it comes to learning another language, is best.