ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

As usual these people are missing the message, the more languages you know the better. The changing global economy attracts people who are proficient in more than one language.

yolanda

The states that adopt English-only, only shows how ignorent they are about the US society. They reply with research that shows English-only is better but neglet other research that states that learning in the native language is the best way to taeach English becuse their native language skills will help once they become flyent in their native language.

As an inmigrant myself I disagrre with the emphasis in keeping the inmigrant children native languaje alive. When I arrived to the USA in 1972 no one offer me a translator or interpreter. I had to learn the languaje fast. And I did. I do not resent the fact that I had to speak the languaje, get used to the climate change, the new life style and the new culture. I was asimilated to this new life very quickly. I benefited greatly from this because I was able to attend a first classs university, find a job and be self sufficient. I feel that we need to help the new inmigrants asimilate to our way of life, our culture and become proficient in the English languaje as soon as possible. This will help them find a good job and become self sufficient.
Now, we can talk about being a bilingual citizen which is another issue. Bilingual means that you are proficient in more than one languaje. That you can write, speak and read another languaje besides your own mother tongue.
The children of inmigrants do not have to loose thier native tongue. They can speak it at home and in their own small sub communities with family and friends. They can eat their native food, listen to their music, attend a church that speaks their native languaje etc...
My two children speak Spanish fluently. They learned it at home and in their visits to their grandparents during the summer breaks. In Europe many of its citizens speak more than one languaje and children learn two or three languajes at school. We can certainly introduce this idea of learning other languajes in our schools. Many parents of inmigrant children ask us to teach their chldren English first. Asian parents ask us to make sure that their child is using the english languaje correctly. these parents value the acquisition of another languaje and understand the need to become proficient in English to achieve the goal of financial independence. In our comunity there are japonese and korean schools that operate on the weekends and children of asian families attend them to keep their native tongue alive. Our early childhood centers should be places where our new residents find the support they need to assimilate to our culture and life style and where their children are being encouraged and supported to become free citizens of a democracy and contributing members of our society.
We need to stop this politically correct idea that inmigrant children need to hear their native tongue to be able survive in our centers. this is not true and we as early childhood teachers are doing a diservice to these children and their families by not enphasizing the acquisition of the english languaje.

Wow! Stunning. Can a society really go backwards so easily? What are these people afraid of? Did the decision-makers not even hear any research on bilingualism? Very scary.

What are these states thinking!! Are the officials that help pass these things into legislation that ignorant to early childhood development?

Hubris or indolence? America continues to be the one prominent nation stubbornly throwing itself in the way of its own progress... both educationally and diplomatically. I was appalled to see that 29 states had already adopted this sort of isolationist stance. These self-imposed parameters only limit our opportunities to become effective and influential in the worldwide arena. Thanks for the article!

I think it is sad that any state of the United States would adopt such a law. Over one hundred years ago Native American Children were forced not to use their own language in the schools of this country and now our people are suffering from loosing our languages. This movement was all part of a plan of genocide towards our people. When you loose your language you began to loose your culture and your traditions. Today, many tribes are struggling and striving to regain their language, teach it to our youngest children, and create language emersion programs. Don't take away a peoples language or discourage children to maintain this part of their culture, the future generations of such people will suffer in the long run. I live in the state of Washington. When I hear young Hispanic children speaking their language fluently I imagine the day when all the young Native American children were fluent with their own native tungue and hope that one day our language will return.