Although I support protecting the position of English as the main and official language in United States I am uncomfortable about supressing usage of other languages outside of the classroom. It looks totalitarian to me.
And I am all for teaching other languages. I think that every American child should be fluent in at least one foreign language before finishing high school.
Because they wanted to be part of the USA not try to bring the USA down to their level. Keep the Spanish language; lose the country to the trash heap of balkanized countries.
Whoa! Spanish or German are not languages of the lower level than English. Give me a break.
Try and think of recess as part of the school day and the playground just another classroom. It is a wonderful time and place to learn 'everyday-sort-of-words'. There isn't the tenseness of structure as in the actual classroom, and kids pick up language from each other quite easily -- especially at the grammar school age.
When exchange students come here from a variety of countries, they usually have learned English grammar in their own countries. But -- everyday English is a 'whole nother thing'. They don't get special instruction, but by the time they leave, at the end of the school year, they have picked up conversational English just by being immersed in it.
I think that every American child should be fluent in English before finishing high school. And I think every student who is here illegally should be sent to their home countries, along with their families.