Bilingaul Education essays

Bilingaul Education essays Many American students have the misconception that bilingual education is just another blow-off or easy-A class; yet more world languages are spoken in the United States today than ever before (Crawford, par. 1). What many blind teenagers and some adults fail to realize is that bilingualism has the potential to be either a crutch or a helping hand for their future. Bilingual education opens the doors of communication throughout the world, which in turn not only expands opportunities, but it aids in the understanding of different cultures, and grants easier access for exploration. First, bilingual comes from the Latin word bi, meaning two, and lingua, meaning tongue (McArthur 126). A bilingual is a person who can speak two languages (Oxford 189). Although the meaning of this term is common, it is easy to disregard the value of it. Communication is the key to any relationship; whether between friends, a teacher and his/her classroom, or countries, it is imperative. Therefore, the purpose of classes such as Spanish, French, and German, are to provide knowledge base for the learner to gain another way of communicating to people outside of his native tongue. It is impossible to conceive that the United States would ever seclude themselves from the rest of the world because our Nation and other countries are dependent upon each other for different resources, such as oil and other textiles. Because of this, it will soon be crucial to have a second language. America is the Great Melting Pot, where citizens of surrounding countries are migrating to (Blanco 454). Daily, one can find a diverse group of different languages spoken at local fast-food restaurants. Bilingualism is at least as common as monolingualism; about half the worlds population (some 2.5bn people) is bilingual (McArthur 127). Not only is it bene...