Language-wise, some might consider my son really lucky. He has two parents who believe in adopting both English and Spanish as languages that he needs to get by. We tend to use Spanish and English interchangeably, depending on our level of exhaustion and exposure to friends and relatives. He gets English when we wish him a good morning, and Spanish when we have to change him or get him to sleep. We don’t differentiate much in our tone when we use both languages, and he seems to understand compliments paid to him readily in both as well. His mother and father both have Latino descent, and have strong connections to their Spanish-dominant mothers.
In no way do we consciously consider the ramifications of raising a child with two languages in terms of his intelligence or market value as an employee. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee of The New York Times, however, still thinks we’re on the right track. Peep the excerpt:
They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
While we should always have a skeptical eye towards new research, here’s hoping this movement towards bilingual education doesn’t die the way the movement towards the metric system. (As a math teacher, I’m still annoyed at having to use inches instead of centimeters.) At this point in education, we’ve only had a passing fancy with other languages. Spanish, French, German, and Italian seem to dominate the foreign language category, but how many people actually learn these languages in their 45-minute classes? For instance, I have friends who took Spanish language classes in high school who can tell me what “frio” and “hola” mean, but can’t ask me what my name is in Spanish without sounding like they’re talking about llamas. (“Como se llama?” is the operative phrase here.)
I wonder if we can push for some sort of foreign language immersion for all of our students.
We can talk about the competitive advantages of having a diversified set of languages that our culture speaks. Our country still takes in millions of visitors a year, each with different languages and dialects we can’t grasp. Globally, our country stands at the low end of the spectrum with just English. Robust and popular as English is, we have yet to tap into the richness of actual literacy because of English’s limitations. Its heavy reliance on idioms and metaphor often conflates communication with others.
More importantly, because these individuals adopt another language, they instinctively connect with others more readily and might make them more empathetic as a result. We could use a little more empathy in schools. Alejandro will have over 60 countries accessible to him in language alone. Imagine how many people he can chat with, relate to, and build whole communities with, and yes, understand.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
We are in year 3 of Spanish Immersion and while there are some pieces that occassionally make me nervous, I know that my children’s problem solving skills – alternating between two languages, thinking about things with two sets of vocabulary will aide them in their creativity, their realtionships and I also think their empathy. What I also hope it brings to them is a belief system that is further devoid of absolutes -bilingualism seems to allow for this huge expanse of creativity that I am already seeing in my 3, 4 and 5 year old.
I was once on a bike trip and got to know a Canadian family. The mother was native French-speaking and the father was native English-speaking.
The high school girls came up to our table and spoke to their mom in French. After they were gone, the mom said to us, “I apologize if it seemed rude to speak in an unknown language. We have a family rule that, until the girls graduate from high school, they are to speak to me only in French and to their father only in English.” Their reasoning was that they didn’t want their children mixing the language within or between sentences.
I don’t think there is a “right” or “wrong” way – but I think that parents who raise bilingual children are very wise. Their children will have such an advantage in adulthood!
Janet | expateducator.com
In Canada you’d think, being a bilingual country, that there wouldn’t be much debate about the merits of continuing to have a bilingual education system. Especially in New Brunswick where I work, which is the only completely bilingual province, it should be a given that it gives students an advantage to speak both French and English. But even here there are people who fight against having French classes and French Immersion. When I have children I want them to be completely bilingual. I want them to hear me speak French, listen to French music and read French books. I know that they will be so much better off having a strong base in both languages. It will open doors for them that a unilingual education never could.
I am so disappointed that our county made the decision to discontinue teaching foreign languages in our elementary schools. This was based solely on lack of funding. It was decided that it was more important to use those teachers in the middle and high schools than elementary. I do realize our budget is tight, but it is such a step backward for our students. It seems to me that young children pick up language more easily than older children. For example, check out a Spanish only speaking kindergartner and observe how quickly that child learns to speak the language of his/her classmates without any specific language training. Immersion at an early age is ideal. So it is sad to find my second grade students deprived of Spanish lessons, which have been included in our curriculum for many years. My hope is that the economy will turn around and we will once again have Spanish classes for our elementary students. In the meantime I will continue having my room labelled with Spanish words, invite my Hispanic students & their parents to share their culture, and research South American countries as a second grade team project. During the next two weeks I will be Skyping (first time Skype-I am ashamed to admit) with a Spanish teacher in the middle school. Her students will read stories they have written in Spanish and will also teach my students the Spanish “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. I know this is just a baby step, but that is a step in the right direction…Hoping to make giant steps in the near future, Carol