Dual-Language Education
A program for all
What is bilingual education?
Most parents are not informed about the goals of the program their child is in. When we say bilingual program we think it's for students that speak two languages, and for them to continue to be bilinguals. Sadly that is not the case, "part of the confusion about bilingual education is that the same term is actually used to refer to a wide range of programs that may have different ideological orientations toward linguistic and cultural diversity, different target populations, and different goals for those target populations" (Freeman, 2007).
In the U.S. transitional bilingual education programs are the most funded, but research has shown that is the least effective. Many parents do not realize that the goal of this program is for their child do transition to all English education as quickly as possible. This program does not have the goal for students to continue to be bilinguals, instead it sees the first language as a problem to overcome. On the other hand there is a bilingual program that all children can benefit from and it is called the Dual-Language program.