Blog Post #6

Connections to Bilingualism in America

Rodriguez's writing and the 'Teaching Bilinguals...Even if You Are Not One' videos prove to me how ignorant it can be for Americans to discourage anybody from speaking other languages aside from English. I have a lot to say on this topic, despite being a white, monolingual American.

I think that there is plenty of contradicting values in American culture. We desperately want to become the greatest country in the world by having the most money, best military, and most educated people. We cannot even argue that Americans are the most educated, nor do we have the best education in the world. Students in other countries are learning another language, often multiple, by the time they are in elementary school. Americans have only considered teaching another language, particularly Spanish, to younger children in recent years. I couldn't imagine being an English language learner in this country that was told to 'only speak English', then suddenly hearing that we now value bilingualism. More jobs are requiring people to speak Spanish. In Rhode Island specifically, Providence schools are requiring an ESL certification as of the next school year. What took us so long to recognize that speaking multiple languages is a strong quality to have?

Time and time again, Americans want to isolate non-white, non-English speaking people from the rest of society. Although it may not be as blatant anymore, Rodriguez's story of losing his Spanish because he was forced to only speak in English at school is a perfect example of wrongful assimilation in our country. Rodriguez didn't understand why he couldn't speak both languages at school, and he eventually started to lose his Spanish as soon as he couldn't practice it in his own home. Spanish is the most spoken language in the world, and Rodriguez as a child was made to feel small because he couldn't grasp English right away. Instead of trying to understand his feelings about having to practically neglect his native language, his teachers forced him to speak English 100% of the time to learn.

The 'Teaching Bilinguals...Even if You Are Not One' series is something that I wish Rodriguez's teachers could've watched to better understand him and other students. The teachers in the video series realize that bilingualism benefits every child's education. These teachers have been able to connect more with families, analyze word choices between languages, and diversify their curriculum based on having bilingual students. When a teacher actively engages a child in terms of their own culture, they will be more interested in learning and attending school in general. These children will want to form a relationship with their teacher and feel comfortable confiding in them. The American education system has too often allowed bilingual students to fall through the cracks. The more that teachers advocate for their bilingual students, the better our education as a whole will become. If we want students to enjoy school, we have to include every single one. 

Hyperlink: https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/10-benefits-bilingualism/