Source: http://www.modbee.com/2010/04/05/1115018/dual-language-classes-on-the-way.html#ixzz0kIkA1bfe
Modesto City Schools (California) will now offer a dual-language program in the fall. The program will start with kindergarten and add on a grade each year, but enrollment is limited to 80-100 students. English-speaking and Spanish-speaking families alike are seizing this exciting new opportunity. They have realized the benefits of raising bilingual children. Bilingualism has been linked with better academic performance and provides students with advantages as they enter the workforce. School districts in the towns of Turlock, Patterson, and Riverbank, already have such programs. In those schools, subjects are taught in Spanish and English.
It’s great that the school district is recognizing the need for a bilingual education. It would be great to replicate this program in communities in New York. I see many benefits to having schools expand bilingual education beyond Spanish and English. In New York, possible combinations include English and … Russian, Arabic, Bengali, Yiddish, Cantonese, and many more. Bilingual programs can provide us with more speakers of Russian, Arabic, and Chinese – languages critical to our nation’s security interests.
Spicing local languages with English language is worrying - Khalid
Source: http://news.peacefmonline.com/social/201004/41349.php
Mr. Mahmud Khalid, the Upper West Regional Minister of Ghana, has recently voiced his opposition to the Ghanaian practice of adding English words to local languages. According to Mr. Khalid, the practice not only hurts language development in Ghana, but also erodes Ghana's culture.
He claims that Ghanaian society will become less culturally literate as formal education attainment rises. The addition of English words adds to the growing negative perception in Ghana that cultural dances and music are for the illiterate.
I find Mr. Khalid's argument compelling for I too have noted that educated societies sometimes diminish the value of cultural dances and music (folklore, traditional music) and see the unique aspects of the culture as archaic.
Many languages around the world are becoming increasingly Anglicized. Although globalization is associated with a myriad of benefits, its impact on language —namely the increasing use of English words in local languages—should be monitored. We know that languages are disappearing at an alarmingly fast rate. We should preserve languages, an integral part to every nation and society.
Are there any drawbacks to bilingual education that you can think of? Are all of the consequences of bilingualism good? Are there some costs to be paid up front? If there are some drawbacks, what can be done to mitigate the potential bad effects?
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of English-Yiddish bilingual schools. I would go!
Bilingual education definitely requires additional funds, so politicians might not want to allocate money for a program that they deem extraneous. Moreover, bilingual education might slow down the process of assimilation if additional pressure to learn English and adapt to American culture is not present.
ReplyDeleteYet I believe that we need to invest in languages for both national security and for greater cultural understanding. In learning a language, students learn the values of a culture and are better able to grasp its key tenets. Students in the United States need to develop a global perspective outside of the stereotypes upheld by the mainstream media.
By the way, I think that Brooklyn is a great place to put the bilingualism movement into full gear. For example, in Brooklyn's Yeshiva of Flatbush, students learn English, Hebrew, and a foreign language. This kind of engagement and interconnection between language, religion, and culture can be replicated by other schools, ie Spanish-English Catholic schools. Brooklyn's diversity lends itself to these sort of academic trials in balancing several cultures in schools.