Exactly what I was thinking. I had seven years of Italian. My teachers says you cannot learn a nee language if you don’t know correct grammar in you first language.
That is a big issue with immigrants. If they are illiterate they have to learn to read their own language first, then a second language. They are doing that in Nevada. Taxpayer funded, of course.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/sep/29/teaching-basics/