The History Of Bilingual Education

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Having dreams and goals are part of being human, and the biggest way to be able to accomplish those dreams has to do with getting an education. Many people feel that they will be able to receive a better education in the U.S. but when someone moves to the U.S. from another country, not being fluent in English can be a huge barrier to being able to accomplish what one wants, and being successful in the educational system. Therefore, the people who are in charge of the education system have set specific standards in order to teach students who are learning the English language. Those initiatives work in order to promote the development of the English Language and standards that keep up with the subjects that the other students who speak English…show more content…
Bilingual education has been a huge part of the U.S. from the beginning as mentioned in an article by Claude Goldenberg and Kirstin Wagner “Bilingual education has been part of the American educational landscape since before the United States was forged from a collection of fractious colonies”, specific bilingual schools were established in order to help people whose first language was not English. Bilingual schools were created in times when people were coming to the U.S. in order to find new opportunities doing the work they were good at or were just looking for refuge from dangerous situations they encountered back home. The need for these schools where necessary in order for people to be able to live and work together. The establishment of new bilingual schools work to help the U.S. in order to support the different people who moved to the U.S. seeking new opportunities. Bilingual education had been around since the beginning and hasn't disappeared, “From its colonial beginnings bilingual education in the United States has existed in one form or another to the present day” (Goldenberg, and Wagner). As time has gone by laws and standards have changed in order to meet certain standards established by the board of education which have made it harder for English language learners to keep up with their peers whom are native English…show more content…
They say, speaking their native language in class would take away from the set time dedicated to learning other content, but it would be easier if students could ask questions in their native language and communicate in a language they are comfortable speaking in and asking questions. Learning content would be easier for them because they would be able to ask questions and if they had any problems, identify the problem and fixing that problem would be a lot more simple due to being able to use their native language to understand what that problem is and fixing it with their understanding of the language. In an article by Anya Kamenetz about the positive effects of bilingual education mentions that the best way to learn a language is to use both the language being learned and the language already know. Using both languages would ease each student into learning a new language. In allowing ELL students to use their native language they have the ability to ask questions in both the language they are learning and the one they are completely comfortable communicating in which is beneficial to their ability to learn a new language with the understanding they already have of their native language. With bilingual classes, both ELL students and English speaking students can work in the same environment

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