The Value of a Second Language

          How valuable is a second language to a child?  Planning to go into the teaching profession, this question weighed on my mind.  I wanted to find out not only the advantages for students being bi-lingual going from K through 12, but also the public schools that offered this extra curriculum for students.  In 2012, the Beloit School District in Wisconsin offered a dual language program for 72 students for the school year of 2012-2013.  A survey was sent out to K through 4 parents asking if they were interested in a program that would allow their children to learn both Spanish and English starting at the kindergarten level.  The school board voted and implemented a trial option for parents that expressed a desire to add this tool for their child’s early educational development.  The 72 students were divided in half, with 36 Spanish speaking only students and 36 English speaking only students who would start in kindergarten with one half of their day spent in English and the other spent in Spanish.  Both languages would be taught twice during the day, while math would be taught only in English to aid students to prepare for state tests.  The social studies and sciences were taught in Spanish for the reason that most of the social studies and sciences are rooted in Latin.  The students would advance to the first grade were a new batch of students would follow in their footsteps and continue on their journey through middle school.  I thought right away that this was a great plan if you had the given diversity in your student population.

          This map visually demonstrates my concern about the lack of students entering kindergarten that only speak Spanish.  Given that children learn better from each other and when you have children in the classroom speaking the language, they learn the language faster than if the teacher was the only one speaking the language.  As you can see by the map there are a lot of states that have a very small Spanish speaking demographic as to others that are heavily saturated.  In the case of Beloit School District in Wisconsin, which has a lower Spanish speaking population, a waiting list started to form as soon as the program was offered.  Parents with 3-year-olds were signing up interested in the kindergarten program.  There two decades of research that supports the program, and given that younger students have a much easier time learning a second language this is the optimal time to implement this learning program.  The research also shows that students who know two languages will usually outperform the students who only know one language.  Since the program is designed with an equally divided student body that has one who speaks Spanish and the other who speaks English, the advantage to the southwestern states really stands out.  Of course, this is depending on the political agenda and scholastic requirements in each school district.  My personal concerns are that social bias will continue to influence our abilities to offer an added skill that can aid our children throughout their education, future employment and cultural unification.  Never forget that America is a country that was built on uniting diversity.