How do some teachers perceive children who are bilingual in a monolingual classroom? Why is it that when an almost 5 year-old can't answer a "why" question with a full sentence, or can't explain himself or herself, the teacher assumes that there is a problem with the child?
Or why is it that when a child performs a literacy task beautifully, with creative language, full sentences, etc, the teacher says "Your child did a great job, it was wonderful to see the language that she used, and she did not need any prompting..." to then add: "Well, she might need help throughout her life," as if she had special needs.... What a contradiction! What mixed messages!
At some point monolinguals will be seen as the underprivileged ones!
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. needs to start thinking about emphasizing bilingual education, especially to improve children's literacy skills. Immersion programs in public schools would be great in elementary schools to boost students'CST scores. Here are some quotes regarding bilingualism: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/SLAQuotes.htm
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