Bilingualism in America
... breach of his civil liberties. English-only advocates also argue that Bilingualism provides little if any induce-ment to mainstreaming English-learners into American culture. Bilingualism provides much more inducement than these advocates realize. By allowing English-learners to be taught English by using their primary language and culture, bilingual teachers recognize their basis on which they understand the new vocabulary and grammar that they must un-derstand and apply in daily life in the United States. How many English-speakers learn other languages without basing their new knowledge on the familiar patterns of English? I taught English classes for six months in Texas, and by the end of those six months, my students could understand a large part of the English they heard on the street and in their jobs. By recognizing that English-learners speak another language first and basing their learning firmly upon it, bilingual teachers don’t delay the process of learning English and mainstreaming these students into American culture; rather, we capitalize upon their past experiences with language to enrich their ability to speak and understand two languages. Another point made by these English-only advocates is that English unites the American public with the common bond of language. That’s true enough, but why must our nation also lose the cultural and linguistic heritage of our English-learners at the same time that these English learners are taught that common language? Is not the existence of our multicultural, multilingual “melting pot” a great advantage for our nation and the proof of our American identity? When children cease to be able to communicate with their parents and families because they don’t all speak their primary language together, a case repeated over and over again in many immigrant families in the U.S., E...