Perfect, appropriate conclusion to this piece: In Gadsden and other communities, the challenge moving forward will be to build bilingual programs that strike the right balance between acceptance and support—valuing non-English speakers while also recognizing that they might need extra help and resources. In a somewhat ironic twist, the primary responsibility for ensuring this happens in majority-Hispanic communities falls to teachers who often received little language acceptance and support themselves. But they may be in the best position to reinvent bilingual education precisely because they know the high stakes of failure, including both the crippling effects of not speaking English and the devastation of losing a linguistic heritage. Our bilingual/dual language teachers merit more support and respect. -Angela
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 05:12:42 +0000
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