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Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 11:41:17 -0500 (EST)
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From: paul168@juno.com (Grupo Primavera)
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:1494] reply to Deanna Hines
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Dear Deanna Hines:
You raise a number of points based on either misinformation or a
lack of understanding.
First of all, what evidence do you have that teaching children in an
English Immersion program is the best way to educate children in the
learning of English?
To put it another way - how long do you think it takes a child to
learn a foreign language up until the point where that child is on an
equal level with the native speaker?
And while the child is immersed in English, what about the other
subjects?
There is absolutely no evidence that an English Immersion program
will teach children to speak, read and write English on par with native
English speakers.
As a matter of fact, before there was bilingual education 25 years
ago there was English Only instruction everywhere which FAILED MISERABLY
on the educational level.
On the other hand there is plenty of evidence that well constructed
bilingual programs, especially the model called Two Way Immersion, is not
only effective in teaching English but also in promoting the learning of
other subjects such that test scores across the board increase with this
program.
As a matter of fact I have read that non-English speaking and
English speaking children in a Two Way program outperform English
speaking children in a monolingual program on English tests.
Concerning making the job of teaching easier - whom are you taking
about? You must be talking about teachers who don't know other languages,
especially Spanish. Why can't they learn?
Why do you assume that English Immersion will make the job of
teaching easier? Are you a teacher? English Immersion will bring an
enormous amount of chaos into the classroom.
It is not a good idea to accuse people of being "dissidents" unless
you wish to get into an argument.
There are some very good messages concerning this issue, including
one which advocates Spanish as a second official language. You should
read them all and refrain from diatribes.
In a nutshell, your position is that of an educational dinosaur.
Languages are the key to success as we approach the 21st century. English
Only is racist; and, contrary to what you are trying to maintain, will in
fact create a great deal of fear and mistrust among the non-English
speaking people.
Paul Rogers
On Tue, 11 Nov 1997 09:49:48 -0500 (EST) deanna hines
<dhines@spc.cc.tx.us> writes:
>
No one is suggesting doing away with language as a structured class...
>No one is suggesting that immigrants learn and practice English in
>their
>private lives...
>No one is promoting xenophobic attitude...
>No one is promoting fear in English-challenged (notice I didn't say
>uneducated) citizens...
>Simply put, English Only programs in public schools can only help to
>streamline and make more efficient, the job of American teachers who
>must conform to Government (whether local or national) guidelines for
>teaching subject matter within a given time period...Teachers who
>must,
>not only teach the material, but translate on a one-to-one basis, can
>not possibly do their jobs in a timely and effective way...Intensive
>English programs taught early can only help the new citizen in job
>search and society placement when their mandatory education
>requirements
>are satisfied...Gentlement and ladies, please...you're discussing
>cultural assimilation...not language assimilation...they are two very
>different areas...their are thousands of cultural societies in the
>United States, all different, all unique to customs brought from their
>ancestral beginnings...it would be impossible to unify them: NO ONE
>IS
>TRYING TO DO THIS...but society and the government of the United
>States
>operates on the assumption of a knowledge of English in ALL these
>cultures...what we DON'T need, is dissidents bringing political
>negativity into a genuine desire to help American citizens become
>unified against opposition, and this DOES require a basic unification
>of information resource through a common language.
>
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