Rising Junior, RI Resident, Environment or Philosophy, 4.0/1570

[ucbalumnus]

@DigitalDad

I do know from other ESL students at our high school (different language), that while they were absolutely fluent in conversational language and had extensive vocabulary, they never had taken formal, secondary education classes in their native language. Them taking formal HS classes in their native language was not at all guaranteed top grades, and they did have to truly apply themselves (even “unlearn” a few things).

Sometimes, heritage speakers have a high level of fluency, but a significantly lower level of literacy, so high schools and colleges sometimes offer “[language] for heritage speakers” that concentrate on reading and writing for students who already speak the language. Consider the analogous situation where most kids in the US learn speaking and listening of English at home, but most reading and writing learning is in school.