A Korean patient was picking up the prescription in the pharmacy I work at. This was a new medication for him with a very complicated dosing regimen. When a new medication is being picked up, the computer prompts the technician at the pick up station to ask the patient if the patient has any questions about the new medication. The patient was asked that question, but because of the language barrier did not really understand the question and the technician took the answer to that question as a “no”.…
It's not uncommon when faced with a monolingual, foreign language speaker to find a workplace or social service grabbing the first available bilingual employee available to serve as an interpreter. Surely, the main goal is just to get the bigger points across and anyone bilingual can do that, right? Wrong. On both counts. The point is rarely to convey only the main points and anyone bilingual can't necessarily do that. If they can't do that, then they certainly can't match the nuance and skill of a trained interpreter. Likely, if consulted most bilingual employees roped into serving as interpreters would actually confess they lack the skills and vocabulary to truly function as an interpreter.…
The majority of resources and strategies discussed in this handbook are teacher and student friendly. As educators we can utilize this handbook to improve educational practices and help emergent bilinguals succeed in their education.…
In the article “The Struggle to be an American Girl” chose to speak only English and forgot her Chinese language, but she finally regretted. However, I decide to bilingual because of reasons. First, being bilingual is helping me in my job. Due to there are a lot of Amharic speakers and English speaker around the place I am working right now, I can communicate and interact with many customers every day. In addition, all of the employers are English and Amharic speakers. As a result of I am bilingual, I am working with a great interaction with my coworkers. Another big benefit of being bilingual is communicating with family and friends. As a result of I can speak both Amharic and English, I can interact with friends from my countries and also…
A unique part of my family heritage and culture is the ability of speaking Spanish. Being bilingual is something that I really appreciate to have because it gives me certain advantages when it comes to applying for jobs or helping others. For example, I was doing community service and there was a woman who need assistance, but she couldn't speak English well. Fortunately, I was able to help her and I felt proud for that. Nonetheless, approximately the same situations apply in school from time to time. In conclusion, I feel pleased for this ability to speak the Spanish language.…
Have you ever wondered what is so special about being bilingual? Bilingualism is when a person knows more than one language. There are thousands of bilinguals who do not know the value of their importance and their advantage. Bilingualism can change people’s lives because they have many cognitive and economic benefits. Bilingualism has an extreme effect on the brain.…
In my opinion bilingualism plays a major role in the educational development of children. This is because research has shown that children who are fluent in their home language are more successful in learning a second language. Furthermore, being bilingual offers greater sensitivity to language, more flexibility in thinking and better ear for listening. It also improves a child’s understanding for the native language. Moreover, knowledge of other languages increases a career of opportunities offering several job options.…
In this modern era, majority of the world’s population is characterized as being bilingual. This is in most cases is manifested as a result of cross movement and interactions by people and societies which initiates the need to fit in and survive. The trend is seen as an important emerging perspective as it facilitates cross-cultural communication and positively affects cognitive abilities. Research shows that the bilingual brain can have better attention and task-switching capacities than the monolingual brain. This is manifested due to its developed ability to contain one language while using another.…
Being different when it comes to language is hard for others to accept. Some bilingual students in a study reported that they felt isolated and discriminated against by fellow classmates who were perhaps native to the area they were in. Most immigrants find it very hard to fit in because they either speak a different language or speak in a different way. What happens to some of these students is similar to what happens to illiterate students. Not in every case, but in many they are teased, ignored, or put into different kinds of classed due to their inability to keep up with the students in the regular class. The issue is that the students eventually may give up or fall into a depression due to their social situation. There are ways to fix…
As an a preschool teacher for the past seven years, I have all my experience in a bilingual classroom without speaking more than just English. As the lead teacher in my Head Start classrooms, I have always relied on a bilingual teacher assistant to provided communication for my Spanish speakers parents, children and myself. However, I can say that I have know several “Spanish preschool phrases” that have gotten me by during the standard, structure classroom day. Currently, I feel confident enough in my knowledge and experiences in my classroom. As a seasonal teacher, I want to expand my awareness of how I can further my teaching skills for my bilingual students in language and literacy.…
Revolutionary leaders knew that encouraging the growth of the multilingual population in the United States was vital to maintaining distance from Great Britain. The Founding Fathers sought to respect the minority groups that helped free the nation from the British crown, therefore avoiding instituting an official national language from the Constitution. In fact, around this time many documents were printed in German and French to stimulate political participation among multilingual citizens. But when the political arena of the 1980s fostered bilingual legislation (for example, introducing bilingual schooling and bilingual voting forms), this respect for foreign languages nearly vanished as many citizens took up arms against American-English being challenged.…
It was a rainy Saturday when we meet up; Sam is sitting in a coffee shop waiting for me, and he was quiet as usual. As an American citizen, I believe is fair to say that all of us are immigrant from foreign countries except the Native American. However, imagine yourself as an immigrant just arrived the states not long ago; there is all kinds of barrier that is waiting for you to solve the moment you arrived. Especially for Sam’s case, things couldn’t be more dramatic as he arrived to the States. In addition, discourse community has realized the issues has become more serious that ever before; many new immigrant students felt left out because language barrier and in particular Sam’s case, even bullying. Therefore, this has leads me to wonder…
For my third blog entry, I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Maria, a third-grade bilingual teacher with a little over ten years of experience, and the mother of my classmate. Ms. Maria just like her students has English as her second language but began her journey at the age of seventeen. This experience allows her to be more compassionate and understanding with her students’ situations as she went through the same thing but at a later age. I personally have never been enrolled in a bilingual class so this interview was insightful to see how different my experience was compared to her students. Ortega status that “Attitudes towards the formal learning context have been shown to exert a lasting and important influence on motivation. (Ortega, 2013, page 190)” so I thought it was quite interesting that when asked what learning approach was more beneficial Ms. Maria believed that both instruction and natural learning approaches are needed to acquire a language.…
The United States should become more open and globalized upon its international status. Because it is a unique country that has various languages and cultures, there are some people who believe on the notion of “one nation one language”, while some believe bilingualism is better for the United States. In the article “A Nation divided by one language”, the author James Crawford provides many research statistics that prove bilinguals are generally smarter than monolinguals. He believes that the media misleads people into believing bilingual education is bad. Crawford states that if one only receives information from the media, one would have the same thoughts that most Americans have (Crawford…
My idea of interest is the importance of being bilingual. Our schools in America don't focus on a teaching kids a second language. As a Hispanic, and American citizen, being bilingual is very important to me. I learned Spanish and English as a kid, and this had led me to have better communication, and has opened more opportunities for me. I chose this topic because it will raise awareness and lead many Americans to better communicate with the Hispanic community. The American society needs to adapt to foreigners instead of persecuting them.…