WEEK 13: Bilingual Education

This article spoke some truths about the current issues surrounding bilingual programs today.  There appears to be confusion in regards to how these programs should function and its main objectives.  While most people can agree on what a bilingual program is ( instruction carried out in two languages), the discrepancy lies in what its goal is. Some think that the goal of a bilingual program is to tailor instruction to the students' level of readiness using the best mode of instruction.  Therefore, catering to the students' cognitive and affective development.  Others believe that the goal of bilingual programs is for students to learn the new language as soon as possible and to integrate the student into mainstream culture.  It's sad because this confusion affects how teachers do their job.  If they are instructing in the students' native language in order to meet students' needs and facilitate learning of the targeted language, it becomes counterproductive if they are being pressured by administration to teach students in English in order to accelerate learning of the second language.  This to me contradicts the definition of what a bilingual program is.
     My friend is a bilingual teacher to students who are are either entering or emergent  bilinguals.  She has been teaching in Spanish and providing a linguistic summary in English because her students do not understand English.  Her lessons are displayed in both languages for students to see.  She uses red marker for spanish and black for english.  However, since 70% of her class have less than a year in this country, she delivers her lesson in spanish with English translations.  Now, her supervisors are pushing to have her students learn English as soon as possible.  They told her that she has to do the opposite of what she has been doing.  Now she has to teach in English with a linguistic summary in spanish when needed.  She is frustrated at this point because her students are not understanding what she is teaching and they are falling behind on the pacing calendar.  She has been told to teach ELA and MATH in English and social studies, science and restorative circles in spanish.  This has been hard on her because her students are not even all the way literate in spanish and she has to use english texts to teach ELA and have them read in a language they do not know.  I hear her story and it makes me angry every time I think about it.