Bilingual Education
By Leslie Melgar
What is Bilingual Education?
Why Bilingual Education?
Bilingual education gives children with very little English speaking background an opportunity to transition into the English language without sacrificing their academic success. Many of the children enrolled in Bilingual Education classrooms come from households where English is not spoken. This makes it difficult not only for their parents to communicate with them and assist them in their assignments but also for them to practice the English language material they learn at school. A traditional English only education would put these children at an automatic disadvantage. They would not only have to learn the subject matter but a different language as well. Their performance in non language focused areas such as science and mathematics would suffer as they would not understand the directions. The teachers who would not be trained in bilingual teaching practices or understand the native language of the students would find themselves struggling to help the student succeed and finding they lack the resources. Bilingual Education is an opportunity for these students and their teachers to see progress and growth throughout the school year of not only the English language but also of the subject matter being covered.