• The podcast makes it seem as if Dual Immersion is only available in Spanish and English. However, there are many Dual Immersion programs that promote English and a language other than Spanish. Many programs build biliteracy in Chinese, Korean, French, etc. In order to have a Dual Immersion program, you must have native-speakers of the target language within each classroom that serve as language models for English-speaking students. If there are few native-speakers of Chinese in a certain area, it is not feasible to have a Dual Immersion program.
• At one point the speaker states that it’s “not fair” for a Vietnamese student to be placed in a Dual Immersion program and forced to learn Spanish and English. However, students are not arbitrarily placed in Dual Immersion programs nor are they forced to stay in a bilingual program. Dual Immersion programs are based on parent choice and parents choose to place their children in the program. Anti-bilingual education activists perpetuate this myth in order to raise the general public’s fear about forced bilingualism.
• The speaker states that by teaching two languages, Dual Immersion programs spend “less time” teaching Science, Math and History than other programs. This assertion is absolutely false. One of the main tenets of Dual Immersion education is that language is taught through content, meaning that students learn content (i.e. Science, Social Studies, etc) as they simultaneously learn English and the target language (i.e., Spanish, Chinese, etc).  In fact, due to the No Child Left Behind Act, many programs, including English-only programs, throughout the nation have restricted their programs to only teaching Language Arts and Math for the purpose of raising test scores. If there are any Dual Immersion programs that are being forced to restrict their instructional minutes to the exclusive teaching of Language Arts and Math, it is as a result of the pressure of standardized testing and NOT because it is a Dual Immersion program.  It has been my personal experience that Dual Immersion programs actually teach more Science and Social Studies than the traditional English-only classroom.

Listen for yourself to the podcast so that you are aware of the systematic lies and myths that are constantly spread by anti-bilingual advocacy groups. It’s important that as bilingual education advocates that you are aware of the claims that such organizations make and are able to articulate a counterargument.


Articles About Bilingual Education:
Critical Components of Effective Bilingual Programs
Can Schools Force a Child to Stay in a Bilingual Program?

Language can send powerful messages regarding power, privilege and the social structure in given locations. Ever since I read Elana Shohamy’s book “Linguistic Landscapes: Expanding the Scenery”, I have been extremely interested in the ways in which language and images are presented in public places. 

Yesterday I went to my cousin’s house in a certain inland city, which has in my opinion been a more or less rural, conservative area until the past five years or so. I have always been a bit uncomfortable in the town because there is not much diversity. Well, there are many Latinos in the town, but it seems that the town is relatively segregated because many of the places in town are populated by white people and I’ve yet to figure out where the Latino part of town is. Yesterday my cousin invited me to breakfast and I drove over to her city of residence.

We drove around looking for a place to eat and she told me that there was a well-known restaurant that has good pancakes and bakery items. As soon as I got out of the car, I noticed the sign on top of the restaurant:

This sign made me feel very uncomfortable because of all the k’s in the title. The first thing I said to my cousin was, “Don’t you think it’s strange that there are so many k’s in that title”? She definitely agreed. I was very perplexed as to whether the k’s were used intentionally as a subtle form of white supremacy (KKK) or if it was an unintentional use of spelling in an effort to be trendy.

When we got into the restaurant, I read on the menu that the restaurant had been around for about twenty years or so. A quick look around the restaurant revealed that all the customers were white, but the cooks in the kitchen were Latino. On the front wall there were pictures of a pretty baby contest, and there were at least two pictures of African American babies. So, I figured maybe they weren’t a bunch of white supremacists after all because if they were they wouldn’t have any Latinos working in the building. Over the past day though I have been asking myself, “Who started this restaurant twenty years ago? What is the real purpose that they used so many k’s in the title? Was it intentional or unintentional?” It reminds me though of the ways in which white supremacist groups spell certain words (e.g., I have seen California spelled as “Kalifornia”). 

All I know is that just looking at the sign brings a very uncomfortable feeling to me and I never want to go back to the place. Even the k’s in the sign seem to be larger and stand out more so than other letters. I’m not saying that the current owner is a white hooded, cross burning member of the klan, but just looking at the sign makes me very, very uncomfortable and I am slightly offended. Am I overexaggerating??