I oppose bilingual programs for immigrants that stretch out for many years. Setting up such tracks for Spanish speakers may impede their learning of English, and in effect serve to institutionalize Spanish as an alternative in this country to English. I favor a relatively quick transition, but not an immersion in English in which all reference to Spanish is forbidden. I notice that the Arizona law provides for a one-year “sheltered immersion” in English (”Although teachers may use a minimal amount of the child’s native language when necessary...”). That sounds fine. Whatever the conditions, though, quickly teaching persons who speak one language to speak and read another won’t be easy.
I have some experience with this from the other side, teaching Spanish to English speakers. I did my practice teaching in a high school that used immersion in Spanish in its beginning Spanish classes. Even with carefully prepared materials, relying on pictures and pantomime doesn’t work very well for some ideas. Occasional words in the other language can be helpful.
For instance, how do you get across the idea of ‘idea’ itself? That’s not easy. Yet in English and Spanish the words have the same origin and are spelled exactly the same way (just pronounced differently). It can be taught in seconds to a person who already understands it in one language by a quick reference to that.
I like the basic thrust of the Arizona proposal, and the attempt to make a relatively quick transition, just so the reliance on English isn’t enforced in too doctrinaire a fashion.
Did you notice the point of my post, the numbers?
Yes...No...Full AZ
74%...26%
Your posts have provided a good example of:
“Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms.”