Rubens Vigas

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS

Faculdade de Letras
Integrated Skills 3 - April 30, 2015
Final Essay
Professor: Arabela Franco
Student: Rubens Vigas

International Immigration and Bilingual Education

Most of us will be raised in the same place we were born. However, there are others
that for many reasons will not face this reality when they choose to immigrate. According to
Shah (2008,

), people immigrate from one country to another for a variety of complex

reasons. Some are forced to move due to conflict or to escape persecution and prejudices,
while others may voluntarily do it. Although such a move may be necessary, it can be quite
traumatic on top of the challenges experienced so far. These post immigration traumas,
sometimes affect not only parents life but also their kids life in many ways, and one of
which is the communication barrier when they do not dominate the new language being
introduced. In an inclusive society bilingual education can be a good way to help individuals
overcoming such a situation. It allows students to learn important subjects while acquiring
fluency in the new language, improves the knowledge and literacy in both languages, and
fosters family communication.
When students are not fluent, learning important subjects in the new language can be
difficult. Children attending a school that teaches in a language, in which they are not
proficient yet, face barriers to learning in regular classrooms and are at risk of poor education
outcomes (Chin, 2005, p. 2).

As students do not know the language, it may be harder for

them to absorb what is being taught in classroom. As an example, think of a student that

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speaks Spanish and who goes to a school where English is the only language used to teach.
Could this student learn History with a good performance if he does not understand English?
Bilingual Education can help him not to fall behind in important subjects while he is
developing fluency in English. It is important to worry about students with this profile, since
they do not know the language used in classroom, and being exposed to such situation might
make them feel uncomfortable and uninterested with their studies. Bilingual education goes
further and provides students with better skills and domain on both languages.
Schools that provide Bilingual Education give students two things: knowledge and
literacy in both languages. Cromwell (1998, ) states that, developing and maintaining the
[student's] native language in no way interferes with new language acquisition. On the
contrary, the utilization of and facility in the primary language enhances the acquisition of a
second language. In other words, the knowledge developed in the first language can be
transferred to the second language. We can use as an example the process of learning how to
read in the majority of the time is this: learn the alphabet, put two letters together to form a
syllable, connect syllables and form words, connect words and form phrases. This process is
practically the same in all languages. It is easier to learn how to read in a language known
and this skill facilitates the learning process in a second language as it is automatically
transferred. The benefits do not last only in the classroom setting; they fallow the students to
their home, bringing past generations and the new generation closer.
Immigrant families with kids who were born in the new country will possibly have a
lack of communication if parents do not dominate the second language. If parents have
suffered with any prejudice, this is a higher possibility. Sharons (2014,

) article, The Fight

for Bilingual Education Programs in the U.S assumes that, one of the more devastating by
products of the bilingual education debate is its affect on the Latino family, which sends kids
to school to learn English. The result is not only do the young students lose their cultural

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heritage as well as the ability to speak to their extended family in their native tongue. Over
time, children barely communicate with their parents when they do not speak English. Think
of parents who have two or more children and they stay home alone because their parents
need to go to work, what is the language they will speak to each other? It might be English,
as it is the language they use most of the time as they spend more time at school than at
home. Having access to the home language at school fosters family communication by
allowing future generations to keep in touch with the past ones because they can understand
what one is saying, passing on the familys culture, tradition and histories.
Many are the benefits that Bilingual Education brings to international immigrants
life. Students in a bilingual classroom most of the time do not lose their motivation in
learning because they can perceive their progress in school. They can use all the fluency,
control and skills acquired in their first language to develop new skills in the new language
being introduced. This program helps children to stay bilingual, because the home language is
preserved in school. For that reason parents can have a better access to their kids life and
education once they are able to understand and check what their kids are learning at school.
They can learn from their familys past traditions and keep them alive. Bilingual education
programs make the immigrants life easier in a certain way. It builds a bridge between
communication and acceptance by showing them that it is normal to be different, and this
difference can be good and contribute in some way to a world that can be everything but
equal.

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References

BENSON, John. The Fight For Bilingual Education Programs In The U.S. 2014
Available in: http://goo.gl/CYNGZa
Accessed in: 4/26/2015

CARR, Sarah. The Reinvention Of Bilingual Education In Americas Schools. 2015

Available in: http://goo.gl/eXxGZ1
Accessed in: 4/26/2015

CHIN, Aimee. Impact Of Bilingual Education On Student Achievement. 2015

Available in: http://goo.gl/PUE7LF
Accessed in: 4/26/2015

KRASHEN, Stephen. Why Bilingual Education. 1997

Available in: http://goo.gl/Vjmv1F
Accessed in: 4/26/2015

CROMWELL, Sharon. The Bilingual Education Debate: Part I. 1998

Available in: http://goo.gl/pDcIIR
Accessed in: 4/26/2015

SHAH, Anup. Immigration. 2008

Available in: http://goo.gl/YAy722
Accessed in: 4/28/2015