Bilingual Education or ESL?

Immigrants who come to the United States are primarily Hispanic. Due to the large influx of Hispanics, the need to know Spanish has risen. It has become increasingly hard to ignore the spread of the Spanish language. Bank ATM’s, directions for appliances and other machines and many documents offer translations in Spanish. Americans are finding that not knowing Spanish can be a handicap. Sam Slick, who founded Command Spanish, the nation’s largest firm specializing in teaching Spanish for the workplace says, “There’s nothing foreign about Spanish anymore. It’s the second language of the United States.” Mujica, a native of Chile states, “The problem is we are slowing down the assimilation of new immigrants by making it way too easy to come to this country and not learn English. An immigrant is an invited guest to this country. We invited ourselves. The least we can do is integrate and become part of the new country.”

Spanish dominates all other foreign languages in public schools. Spanish immigrants enter American schools with little or no knowledge of English. Educating and integrating these students is essential. Bilingual education involves teaching all subjects in school through two different languages. According to the National Association for Bilingual Education goals include teaching English, fostering academic achievement, acculturating immigrants to a new society, preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage, enabling English speakers to learn a second language and developing national language resources. A major longitudinal study, released in 1991 by the U.S. Department of Education, found that the more schools developed children's native-language skills, the higher they scored academically over the long term in English. Students also benefited from acquiring fluency and literacy in two languages.

Currently there is a strong need for teachers. Bilingual education requires specialization which creates an even smaller pole of possible hires. Teachers must be fluent in not only English, but Spanish. Most hired teachers are not well versed in Spanish or to the extent that bilingual education entails. The difficulty of finding teachers and the lack of funding for training lessens the possibility of expanding bilingual education to more school systems across the nation.

A majority of school systems use English as a Second Language or ESL. The difference between ESL and bilingual education is teachers do not utilize native languages to instruct their students. In elementary schools, ESL teachers typically provide individual and small group instruction. They go into classrooms to assist teachers with ESL students and modify curriculum goals and assignments so they are attainable. The goal for ESL students is to experience success as they meet increasingly difficult academic challenges. ESL teachers also prepare students for the standardized tests. An increasing number of schools, under pressure from the No Child Left Behind Act, have narrowed the curriculum to focus exclusively on test preparation in language arts and math. ESL is better option in schools with a smaller percentage of Hispanics. ESL programs tend to be easier to fund and require less training for teachers.

The thing to keep in mind regarding education is that there is no “one size fits all.” Children’s backgrounds and needs are diverse and so are the aspirations of parents and communities. Some Program models are appropriate in some situations, but not in others. It is imperative that the government increases funding for teachers in special programs to meet the growing needs of the population.