Two Languages Are Better Than One Essay

In some schools; variety of approaches are used to bilingual education, designing individual programs based on the needs of each child (Santa, 2004).” In the bilingual education, one of the most common approaches is transitional bilingual education (TBE). TBE programs include ESL. However most classes are directed in children 's home languages until they get proficiency for English only classes. For instance children who have not sufficiency in English might not be ready to learn academic subjects in English. Children like these, spend time in an intensive ESL program in the school and receive instruction in their native language.

Foreign languages should be taught in elementary schools because learning a language provides cognitive benefits, is easy for children in particular, and is useful in the work force. Learning a foreign language exercises the brain and improves learning ability. According to Mary Lynn Redmond of Wake Forest University, students enrolled in a foreign language class tend to score higher on standardized tests, such as the SAT (“Foreign Language Important in Elementary School”). “Learning languages helps increase listening ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking,” she says. These skills are vital to academic success.

Since parents tend to have limited English language skills, the communication between school and parent is limited. (Huffcut 34). Hmong parents who do not speak English insist that their children communicate in their native language and keep up Hmong traditions (Vang, F. 4). First generation Hmong American college students do not perform as well as other students because of language barrier too. Students whose parents are illiterate in English or their primary language are more likely to be underachievers in school (Vang, C. 10).

In addition, research shows students are doing better when they are in bilingual programs. Pac (2012) writes “Facilitating instruction in both heritage languages and English, bilingual education specifically improved language minorities’ educational access, self-esteem, and personal and professional achievements” (Pac 2012, p.195). Students feel more comfortable when they are studying in the environment with their peers who are in the same English level, and they are more willing to practice in the class. However, when emergent bilinguals have to speak with unfamiliar language in the class, students will feel shame to ask questions because they will think other students will laugh at them since they are the only one who does not understand questions, which make them have lower self-esteem. In New York City, there is a dramatic loss of bilingual program because it against the English-only movement.

Minority language students tend to perform more poorly in school than majority language peers, probably because of limited proficiency in the primary language of instruction (August & Shanahan, 2006; Kieffer, 2008). This limited proficiency can undermine students’ ability to complete school tasks (Keuhn, 1996; Vang, 2005), including science and math (Miller & Scheller, 2010). Children whose home language is the same as the school language, on the other hand, are able to transfer discussions between the two settings more easily, which could support the completion of homework and other school tasks (Hong & You, 2012). Children who hear a different language at home than the one used at school have a wide variety of possible language trajectories (Hoff,

However, it will be very challenging for both teachers and students in a bilingual classroom. There are many strategies that can improve the communication in the class for teachers. I will start my essay by describing what is a bilingual education, the barriers of communication in classroom and finally I will elaborate few strategies on how to improve communication in a bilingual classroom. According to McCarty (2010),

Once a child has learned a first language, the following study becomes simple because the learning abilities have been already tested. Learning new words becomes easier and creating links with already known languages helps a lot in learning of a new language. There are some disadvantages, however. Bilingual people generally know fewer words in a semantic area than the monolingual. Also verbal reactions may be slightly slower because needs a extra thinking caused by known many languages.

However, many kids learn to speak another language, beside English, at home from their parents. Sometimes, it is the primary language. The primary language could be learned before English. Foreign languages should be required at elementary schools because it helps the students become more culturally diverse, students get more opportunities and foreign language can helps students relate to other students better. The United

And in this case, bilingual instructional support can be practical to help students learn common subjects well in a language that they can understand. Thereupon, they won’t fall behind because of the language difficulty. Besides, the acquirement of English proficiency is equally important to LEP students’ academic development. Bilingual education can not only be helpful in school curriculum, but also is a practical program in which LEP students are able to learn both English and their primary language and also use their first language to acquire English proficiency for a long run. Work Cites B., Chelsey, et al.

Bilingual classes bring the students closer together to better both groups, the students are able to work together to help each other understand things that they might not understand. So not only do both groups learn and work with two languages they meet new people they wouldn't have met or had class if it was not for those bilingual classes. Studies have been made to show the effects of bilingual education and how students would benefit from being in a bilingual class, “ELLs who had gotten waivers to remain in small bilingual programs were equally proficient in English and did just as well on state tests when compared with ELLs in English-only programs” (Sanchez). So bilingual education can improve the communication between ELL students