Bilingual is better

asteriskea · October 21, 2006, 1:11pm

Learning two languages is better than one. Scholars advise us that is wise to invest time and money into bilingual education.

Bilingual education would benefit students regardless of their language of origin, a panelist at a conference on Latinos in U.S. cities said Thursday.

Children raised in a bilingual setting outperform students educated in only one language, Matt Garcia, an associate professor of American Civilization at Brown University in Providence, R.I., told attendees at the conference at William Paterson University.

Garcia was among a half-dozen academics who presented their research on the growing population of Latinos in the United States and how Latinos are changing the nation’s economy, politics and culture.

About 100 college professors, undergraduate students and high school and elementary school teachers attended the daylong conference, “Latinos in U.S. Cities: Power, Politics, and Culture,” sponsored by William Paterson University’s Center for Continuing and Professional Education.

Garcia said surveys have found a majority of first- and second-generation Latino parents want their children educated in both English and Spanish. But bilingual education would benefit everyone, he said, because over time students educated in two languages do better on standardized tests than those who speak and study only one language.

<a href=“http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMDgzMTYmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz[/url]”>http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMDgzMTYmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz</a>

Wells80 · October 21, 2006, 2:07pm

And it’s like banging your head against a brick wall with the US educational system…

Chedva · October 21, 2006, 3:11pm

The problem IMO is that what has previously passed for “bilingual” education in the US is actually unilingual and the language isn’t English. True bilingual, immersion education is great, but saying “We’ll teach you in your native language until you learn English” doesn’t work unless someone is also willing to teach immersion English.

ucsd_ucla_dad · October 21, 2006, 3:52pm

So what are the public schools to do - teach in English/Spanish, English/Vietnamese, English/Chinese, English/Tagalog, English/Farsi, etc.? The cost and logistics of doing so would be huge and costly. There’s one common theme here and that’s “English”. If the students want to do well and integrate into our society, they should be taught in English-only in the public schools. Let the parents raise them bi-lingually if they want - the burden should not be on the taxpayers. I live in an area that’s largely Hispanic and the tendency for the parents (many of whom are illegals) to speak only Spanish and make no attempt to integrate into our society is only hurting their kids.

lamom · October 21, 2006, 4:44pm

I am fourth generation Hispanic. Totally agree with Ucsducladad. Want to to know what I think contributed most to my success? Speaking English well. Yea it would be great if I spoke another language. A boss once just didn’t understand why I couldn’t speak fluent Spanish. I asked why he a 3rd generation German couldn’t speak German.

marite · October 21, 2006, 5:05pm

There is a difference between having students learn a second language from a very early age and teaching them in their native language while slowly (if at all) introducing them to English language classes.

We have a k-8 school in our district that seems to be quite successful and is in demand among Anglophone middle-class families. Children are taught some subjects in English and some in Spanish (but not always the same subjects). My kids did not attend that school, but I know some college profs, doctors, lawyers who have sent their kids there. The English-speaking kids get to shine when English is spoken and help the Spanish-speaking kids; the Spanish-speaking kids get to shine when Spanish is used for teaching and help the English-speaking ones. That is the true meaning of bilingual education.

In other countries, a second and third language is introduced earlier than in the US. Go to Germany or the Netherlands or the countries of Scandinavia and you will find people speaking English fluently. By contrast, very few Americans can claim to speak a second language as fluently as do Europeans.

It is also true that learning another language reinforces fluency in one’s own and makes learning other languages easier.

mathmom · October 21, 2006, 5:22pm

“The problem IMO is that what has previously passed for “bilingual” education in the US is actually unilingual and the language isn’t English.”

Our school district started a program about 8 years ago where they created classes that are half Hispanic kids and half English speakers. In the first years of the program they spend about half the time on each language. Then there’s some sort of arrangement where they spend about half the time with other classes in the school and half in the program. It’s extremely popular (lottery to get in) and the kids come out of it scoring as well as the rest of the schools on the state tests.

Chedva · October 21, 2006, 5:26pm

mathmom, that’s a great program, but I believe it’s quite rare. I know that’s not the usual program in my area. The one you describe is, I believe, the ideal, and a true, bilingual program. (I would have loved my d to go to one like that!)

ucsd_ucla_dad · October 21, 2006, 5:56pm

I agree that learning a foreign language is great. My kids each studied 5 years of Spanish and did very well with the language. It’s very easy for native English speakers to speak only one language since it’s the predominant language of business in the world. I was in Holland one time on a business trip and asked a customer there why he spoke such perfect English. His response was that it was primarily because very few people speak Dutch so they’re really forced into speaking a primary business language. Another factor according to him was that since so few people speak Dutch, many of the movies and TV shows were in English language with Dutch sub-titles and it helped them to further learn the language. I’ve noticed that Scandinavians, where few others speak their language and they have relatively small populations, seem to speak English better than any other European country I’ve been to.

At this point in time, it seems to me to be obvious that the ideal second language for non-native English speakers would be English since it’s the predominant business language. Other countries have recognized this and have strong programs to achieve it. The USA however, is truly a melting pot with ancestry and new immigrants from all countries. If one were to attempt to establish “the second language” to learn, what would it be? If one were to select a second language to teach classes in at the public school system in areas like LA, Chicago, NYC, what would it be? I expect each culture would choose their own language as the second language to teach in (as did the group in the article) but this can’t scale in locations as diverse as these. More to the point, I think it’d be counter-productive and tend to be used as a substitute for teaching stronger English language skills to those who most need it. This would end up hurting those who, if anything, need even more of an immersion than they already have.

marite · October 21, 2006, 6:15pm

It doesn’t have to be a single second language. It could be Spanish, or it could be Chinese. In many countries of Europe, two different languages are required, the first one beginning in sixth grade and the second one in eight grade.
The point, besides fluency in another language is that learning a second language is very helpful in learning a third or fourth and even getting better at your own language. My S learned Latin, which he found very helpful in learning Spanish. He even managed to score 530 on the French placement test without ever having taken French! Not a great score, but he said he guessed at words, based on both Spanish and Latin.
People who have learned Chinese find picking up Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese easier despite the different writing systems because of the common vocabulary. People who know German find learning Dutch easier as well (and vice-versa).

sax · October 21, 2006, 6:36pm

I think there should be television stations devoted to teaching languages. Non english speaking americans have a difficult time learning english because there are so few programs available to them. If it was free on TV many more people would master the language.

Science has shown thats it’s easiest to learn a language under the age of 13. Why we don’t have numerous TV channels teaching languages is beyond me.

mathmom · October 21, 2006, 6:49pm

I also have to say that I learned to really understand English grammar when I took French, and my kids have had the same experience from learning Latin.

asteriskea · October 22, 2006, 9:47am

Good observation mathmom, and for all of us who are polyglot or have polyglot children the latest research on the subject of bilingualism and, for that matter multilingualism, indicates that the benefits of bilingualism as well as foreign language study, are profound and indeed well worth the investment.

For many decades researchers have attempted to reinforce with empirical evidence the intuitive sense of the value of foreign language study in improving the cognitive functioning of the brain, and many research projects have lent credence to these ideas, particularly that foreign language study enhances a student’s achievements in English. For example, one researcher found that students who had taken a foreign language in high school had a significantly higher grade point average in all high school subjects as well as in freshman English courses in college. In addition, data from the Admission Testing Program of the College Board show a definite positive correlation between Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and the study of foreign languages. In one recent test group, for example, students who had taken no foreign language in high school achieved a mean score of 366 on the verbal portion of the SAT, and 409 on the math portion. Students who had taken only one year of a foreign language had slightly higher scores (378 and 416), whereas students with two years of foreign language showed more dramatic increases (417 and 463). Each additional year of language study brought a further rise in scores, with students who had studied a language for five years or more achieving an average of 504 on the verbal and 535 on the math portion of the exam.

The College Board also calculated correlations between length of study of certain subjects, including English, math, biological sciences, physical sciences, and social studies, and SAT scores, and found that in almost all cases the longer a student studied one of these subjects, the higher were the scores. However, the verbal scores of students who had taken four or five years of a foreign laguage were higher than verbal scores of students who had studied any other subject for an equal length of time. Similar results have been obtained by other researchers who have examined foreign language study and SAT scores.

A number of studies in bilingual education also seem to lead to the conclusion that foreign language study can aid and even accelerate the cognitive development of the brain. Bilingual subjects in various tests have outperformed similar monolingual subjects on verbal and nonverbal tests of intelligence. This discovery has led some researchers to speculate that bilinguals may have a language ability that enables them to achieve greater mental flexibility. Along with the certainty that people who know more than one language and culture can communicate more effectively with people of other countries and cultures, it is indeed possible that through learning another language and culture, people become more effective problem-solvers, closer to achieving solutions to pressing social problems because of an increased awareness of a wider set of options.

<a href=“http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-924/study.htm[/url]”>http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-924/study.htm</a>

I just have to post the opening to an article entitled ¿Habla Inglés? that appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education:

<a href=“http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/ed/2006/summer/features/ingles.html[/url]”>http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/ed/2006/summer/features/ingles.html</a>

asteriskea · October 23, 2006, 6:52am

Good article on Karen Glitman’s efforts in Vermont to promote foreign language study starting at a young age. In Vermont, as elsewhere throughout the U.S., foreign language study is one of the first things to go when budget money is tight.

As research mounts to extol the benefits of foreign language study, especially starting at a young age, some parents are asking school administrators to consider giving children an earlier start. In Jericho, parents are lobbying the Jericho Elementary school to incorporate foreign language starting in fall 2006.

Karen Glitman, a consultant and Jericho mother of two, is leading the push. The diplomat’s daughter attended grade school in Paris and grew up speaking French and English. Her experience convinced her that language study offers tremendous academic and social benefits. These beliefs grew stronger as she delved into research on the advantages of language study.

“It’s more than just sort of a gut reaction. There’s a lot of science behind it,” she said.

Proponents of foreign language instruction say it can help children become better students and sharpen native language skills. Learning a second language also opens a window onto international cultures and careers, and in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. government officials are pushing language study as a way to improve U.S. intelligence and security. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution earlier this year declaring 2005 to be the Year of Foreign Language Study.

In Jericho, Glitman and like-minded parents designed a survey to see what fellow taxpayers might think about bringing foreign language into the grade school. They circulated copies in local stores and other public places. Seventy-four percent of the 172 survey respondents said they supported adding foreign language in the elementary grades and 70 percent said they would support an increase in the school budget to offer it.

“I was surprised at the depth and breadth of support for having foreign language in our elementary school,” Glitman said. “I really think a lot of it is people’s understanding of the world. Our children need to be able to compete in a global economy.”

The survey also showed about 19 percent of the respondents spoke a language other than English. These included Norwegian, Korean, Hungarian, Danish, Swedish and Hebrew. “What was really neat was to see the diversity that we have right here in our little community,” Glitman said…

Michael Martin, president of the Vermont Foreign Language Association and a French teacher at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, preaches that study of language should be an essential, even in grade school.

“Why should it even be on the chopping block?” he said. “Why do we go to languages to cut first when we know that students who learn another language have higher SAT scores, higher graduation rates, and they learn their own language better because they are learning language mechanics?”

One way to persuade taxpayers to support funding is to teach children well, and design effective curriculum, Martin added. Convincing parents that language instruction can succeed is sometimes difficult given that some adults didn’t learn much in their own foreign language classes. Martin says at parent-teacher conferences some parents deliver comments along the lines of: “I took French for eight years – can’t speak a word.”

Inconsistent instruction – a half hour a week in third grade, and an hour a week in eighth grade – is not likely to deliver results. Sustained, sequenced instruction with a heavy emphasis on speaking and communication proficiency, not just conjugating verbs, is the way to go, according to research, Martin said. “What they’ve found is that learning a language just requires a lot of contact hours. That’s the single biggest thing.”

Districts that make a commitment to instruction from the kindergarten to 12th-grade level are most likely to see results, he believes.

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bethievt · October 23, 2006, 7:48am

Hey, Michael Martin is my son’s French teacher! He’s really great. In our town, kids start with French or Spanish in 3rd grade. It’s little more than colors, numbers, learning about another culture, eating foods from another country, singing songs, etc. but they at least hear the language early. It builds slowly in the following grades and most kids do Spanish I or French I in 7-8 grade. It is an elective by then, but lots of kids take it and go on in HS.

cameliasinensis · October 23, 2006, 8:11am

At my (private, international, K-12) school one of the goals is that every student be at least* bilingual by graduation. In elementary school, half the classes are in English and the other half in another language (Spanish or French); in middle school, most classes are in English but history and geography are in the other language, in addition to intensive language classes; in high school, all classes except language classes are in English, but by then the kids who have been through the entire program are essentially bilingual. I moved here in 7th grade and by then I’d already learned French while living in Belgium, so I don’t have any personal experience with the elementary school program, but the students I know who have completed it are, if not fluent, BY FAR more competent/comfortable in their second language than my friends at American high schools (public or private). I realize that such a system isn’t realistically applicable everywhere, but in terms of bilingual education it’s probably one of the most effective.

*Many students are from international backgrounds and speak yet another language at home; for example, my first language is Swedish, my second is French, my third is English, and I’m (with varying degrees of success) self-studying Spanish.

Chedva · October 23, 2006, 10:34am

Actually, my parents, who came here from Europe as adults and who had no English background, used the movies to learn English. They used that as their “immersion” - watching and listening, they decoded what the words meant. No subtitles to fall back on. They also used radio, and later, television in English only. They learned English quite quickly, and over the years, very well, even though they never lost their accents. (They may have had some advantage, though, as they spoke a number of different languages.)

Television may be one of the best methods to learn another language or the predominant language.

calejbound · October 23, 2006, 10:34am

We asked our GC in HS to clarify what is “first language”? My D speaks 3 languages, English,French, and our native language. She is proficient in English and French but used our native language up to age 3 exclusively. We alternatingly use English (mostly) and our native language at home back and forth. Is the first language the most proficient language or really the first one she learned and used?

mathmom · October 23, 2006, 10:59am

“Television may be one of the best methods to learn another language or the predominant language.”

LOL and it’s so much fun to watch TV and feel virtuous!

Speaking of which dh was so disappointed in Don Johnson’s voice when he came back to US for a conference and saw some American episodes of Miami Vice - he sounded much more manly in German!

calejbound - I’d use your native language when they ask what the “first” language is.

calejbound · October 23, 2006, 11:07am

Thanks mathmom.
Regarding language proficiency, there are several articles that report that the brain center for language proficiency is the same center for mastering music (such as sight reading music sheets) and the same center used for math. Come to think of it, music and numbers are just another form of language.

Bilingual is better

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