Yuliana Liveris
Dr. Ana Close
English 102 F
04/29/2014
Enlarging Two Languages for the Education in Chicago’s School
Having bilingual education in nursery school across Illinois is a valuable practice for children because it is important to acquire two languages with eloquence. Bilingualism is often related to immigration, and this element has developed particular views of approaches to bilingual education in the Chicagoland area. The most important is the distension of the young non-Native English speakers in the early learning. When the children are 3-5 years old going to preschool, Chicago public school places them into bilingual classes because they are identified as dual language learning. By using different theories from the sociological perspective, the set of interrelation of social and pedagogical purposes can be understand from the bilingual classes of preschool in Chicago. First, functionalist perspective emphasizes the interconnection between the different parts that are involved in bilingual education, and how they work together to produce a negative or positive influence. Second, the home culture as the standard focuses its viewpoint by criticizing the value of foreign culture by using the home culture inside the bilingual language and its benefits. Finally, conflict perspective focuses how society presents itself by using power and conflict over the resources and rules of the bilingual classes. Therefore, the sociology perspective can explain the increased demand concerning the bilingual movement. The request of the expansion of the bilingual programs in preschool might succeed on its implementation, the functionalist perspective, the home culture as the standard, and conflict perspective indicate a potential for its failure.
By proving the story of the biliteracy in pupil population, people can see the purpose in Chicago’s schools these days. Chicago has a rich diversity of culture, and they have their own identity. They have been shared in different ways. One of the most known is linguistic that it has reached the educational system with different types of languages. For that reason, government started running bilingual classes for English Language Learning in the school districts in order to present a new way to teach a language by using a thematic approach and hands on learning around Chicago. According to Encyclopedia of Chicago, “The first bilingual education program in Chicago was opened for Spanish-speaking students in 1968 at Lafayette School” (2). And it did not end since there. In fact, the bilingual program evolved its academic service because it stated adding different language. “By the 1973 more than 12,000 preschool through high-school children were enrolled in 64 bilingual programs serving Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, and Italian-speaking students”(2). This information describes a well-organized program that encompasses a good portion of the bilingual students. Nevertheless, bilingual programs have faced some invisible barriers since their introduction in the educational scheme in Chicago’s public schools.
Regardless of the positive wide appeals of the bilingual programs for English-language learning, there are some fundamentals still unclear, and the Functionalist Perspective can explain them. According to Sociology: A Global Perspective, “The functionalist perspective focus on how the “parts” of society contribute in expected and unexpected ways to maintaining and disrupting an existing social order” (Ferrante 30). The main idea of the social institution is to provide quality bilingual programs for children with disadvantages in English. By using professional staff with the ability to speak the children’s mother tongue and English, extending these type of programs demographically, creating an easy admission to these educational programs, etc. However, the authorities did not imagine how difficult can be to reach these objectives. Soifer explains, “While access to high-quality programs is often very limited, it is not at all certain how many classrooms in this program will meet this standard”(4). This claim suggests that there are unanticipated effects in the bilingual programs which could affect the major purpose in the education system. For example, most school districts’ teachers are not qualified for bilingual programs, and these links with the characteristics of this unique service that it has to meet the students’ needs. Harris says, “Compliance problems included bilingual courses taught by teachers who lacked required language or subject-matter certification, classes with substandard content, and failure to make yearly assessments of how well students are learning English”(1). When the efficacy of the teachers is appropriated, the progress of the children might be jeopardized. Therefore, Bilingual programs have seen firsthand the primary impact in the development of Early Language Learning because their features can provide a balance based on the quality for children education in order to success in Chicago’s areas.
Moreover preschools are related to the Functionalist Perspective because it is an institution where Early Education can be provided with bilingual program, but some schools districts do not implement them. Many immigrant parents start enrolling their Non-Native English speakers’ children in preschool that provide bilingual programs in the area. They want their children to develop both languages in order to accomplish the future expectation as academic students. Nevertheless, there are some districts that do not have preschool classrooms, and children cannot enjoy any bilingual program. For example, Aurora is suffering a lack of preschool, and parent are not able to register their children in this type of educational system. Lulay explains that “About one-fourth for the preschool spots were eliminated in the East Aurora School District this year when the district cut five classrooms because of space limitations” (2). The preschool deficiency would produce an impact in the schooling because children that did not have an early bilingual education will be behind for their next level grade. Moreover, this is a major concern for parents because they might make drastic decisions into their children’s education. Norma Piza, a mother from Aurora, was interviewed. Lulay reports, “If the East Aurora district did not offer bilingual preschool classrooms, she may not have enrolled her kids in the state-funded program” (2). This situation is a clear example of the limit number of centers that offer bilingual immersion preschool program. Some parents’ criticism toward the institution will be negative at the point that they might not register their children. Consequently, if the districts are not able to provide the adequate classrooms for the early dual-language learners in order to reinforce their academic skills, people would not see the benefit of these programs for their children. These circumstances might not have a favorable progress in the bilingual program development in Chicago.
Furthermore, the quantity of bilingual teacher is considerable short in the preschools of Chicago, and this is a subject of interest for the institutions; by using the Functionalist Perspective this issue can be analysis. Teachers are one of the key for the success of the bilingual programs because they are the bridge between the two language and the children. For that reason, institutions are working hard to provide this type of resource to the schools because they can be able to teach in class in order to develop both languages skills for the pupils. Soifer writes, “Whatever the educational benefits of the new bilingual preschool program might be, its success must ultimately depend on the number, and quality, of qualified teachers” (7). Teaching two different languages among Early Language Learning is the goal of every bilingual program creates by these establishments, but the limit of the teachers has been difficult for this academic achievement. Julie Kallenbach, Director of Early Learner Initiatives for the district was interviewed about this situation to find out what the institutions are doing in order to defeat this problem. Harris reports, “’The biggest key has been for us to communicate with our university partners that we need bilingual preschool teachers that have their ELL [endorsement]’” (3). In order to have an effectiveness for the bilingual programs, it is necessary to have substantial teachers of the day to teach these academic skills. Moreover, when the institution cannot find teachers around Chicago, they prefer to look out for foreign teachers. Harris says, “Elgin District U-46, which runs a dual-language program that is 80 percent Spanish in preschool and kindergarten, has found bilingual teachers partly by recruiting them from Spain”(3). The demand of bilingual teachers is higher because without them these benefits cannot be spread correctly. Therefore, the matter of the short supply of teachers is demonstrated as a risk condition because it shows a probability of falling for the bilingual program.
Although institutions can resolve some impediments, there are other challenges for them for how capable they can be serving bilingual programs in Chicago. In order to have an academic success for the bilingual programs, the institution must be able to sustain this project. Soifer writes, “Establishing and implementing the new programs in schools across the state will also hold significant bearing on its likelihood for success” (5). It can be seen from experts that the structure of these programs might not be suit the expectations of the community. For example, Zehr explains, “What’s more likely to be a problem in implementation…is that preschool teachers will move back and forth between two languages, while research shows it is more effective to teach each language separately”(3). It seems that the teachers will be unable to provide the adequate teaching the languages, this situation can create disappointment for the public that believe of the benefit of these bilingual programs because children might not receive enough language support from their teachers. Moreover, institutions need to be prepared for the flexibility of the increase of the English Language Learning population because it can produce limitations to maintain these bilingual programs in the state. Harris says, “The rapid growth of Latino and other immigrant populations in Chicago’s suburbs is outstripping the ability of public schools to provide bilingual programs” (1). The augmentation of immigrants in Chicago every year is another reason that bilingual programs can declaim the opportunity of moving forward with this preschool bilingual assistance in Chicago. Also Harris illustrates, “School districts have seen the number of English-language learners double – in Plainfield School District 202, they have more than tripled, to about 2,082 in 2011 from about 674 in 2005”(1). These statistics show that this is one of the major problems for the institutions because they probably are not prepared with suitable resources for this massive increase in the immigrant community. Consequently, there are some factors that the intuitions must need to solve in order to continue with the bilingual program in Chicago’s preschools.
The bilingual programs have been experienced The Home Culture as the Standard, and people need to be considered about it because it can influence in its prosperity. “The home culture as the standard is usually the standard that people use to make judgment about another culture” (Ferrante, 69). In fact, people believe that bilingual programs are not the best way to teach Early Language Learning because they are not the right tools for the children. Soifer writes a note from the Migration Policy Institute “’Basically all educators and scholars agree that to succeed in U.S. schools and participate in civic life in the United States, children need to develop strong English proficiency and literacy skills’”(3). This notion is based on support English only that most people want to have in the whole education system in Chicago. It is the most common argument because the programs haven’t shown good results. The author from Erikson Institute explains, “Erikson researchers also visited seven schools to observe classroom practices in action. The two-year study…will result in a comprehensive and practical set of policy recommendations related to issues including assessment, teacher preparation, and family-school engagement”(Erikson 3). When there are poor performers with these programs, people start thinking that they do not have any benefit for the children. Moreover, when people encounter foreign language as a negative context, their mentality becomes with reorienting their ways of look the bilingual programs. Soifer writes, “Education programs that deliberately delay English learning in favor of other priorities increase risks of missing these cognitive windows of opportunity for language learning, and may compromise their ability to acquire fluent English” (3) When people make an analysis about the quality of the bilingual education in order to verify if it has better approach with children, sometimes they can have wrong opinions about the goal of the programs’ curriculum. Consequently, the judgments relate with contribution of the bilingual programs can produce erroneous perspectives toward their fundamentals. This can disturb the intension for what they were created that it is provide two language for the children in the preschools in Chicago. In addition, The Home Culture as the Standard can analyze for the misunderstanding that people have toward teaching two language in preschool classroom around Chicago and the conflict. For bilingual education programs, this mean that the literacy curriculum must follow the utilization of both languages. Preschools are doing 80/20 percent in mother tongue, English that it goes decreasing until 50/50 percent mother tongue and English because the concept is that children will be fully bilingual speakers by using level by level the two language. Nevertheless, some immigrant parents prefer to enroll their children in English class for preschool because they assume that this is a better approach for their children linguistic education. Luisiana Melendez, a clinical assistant professor from Erikson was interviewed about the perspective that parents have against the dual-language learning. She says, “’People think that if students don’t learn English by preschool, then they never will. Or they think that it’s too confusing to learn two languages at once’” (Erikson 2). The pessimistic attitude that some parents have with the bilingual programs can influence in the promotion of the full development of the native language and service the English for the students. Moreover, it seems that immigrant parents want to adjust their children to the American culture because they think that English can be a bizarre world for them in their life. Sharon Giless, director of English Language Learners at Waukegan Public School District to 60, who was interviewed by Harris, comments about this phenomenon among immigrant families. She says, “There is something lost in translation. Having preschool in English doesn’t make them English speakers” (4). When children have spoken their mother tongue for long time, it is not easy to do the transition for English, and there are parents that do not understand this process. When immigrant parents belief that the better education for their children has to be based on English rather than bilingual language, the bilingual programs can be vulnerable in their accomplishment into the immigrant community.
When Chicago’s institutions start applying Conflict Perspective by doing different prerequisites for the bilingual programs in the preschools, some complications will be emerge that can cause controversies. “The conflict perspective focuses on conflict over scarce and valued resources and the strategies dominant groups use to create and protect the social arrangements and practices that give them an advantage in accessing and controlling those resources”(Ferrante 33). When institutions create the first state mandate which has all regulations that school districts must complete, they might not evaluate the disagreement that can emerge of these new arrangements. Soifer explain, “The expensive mandate…lacks satisfactory educational and practical foundation doing little to actually advance the interest of those it is intended to directly serve”(1) It seems that this strategy from the institutions does not establish much assistance for the people that are dealing with it. For example, it can affect the progress of the bilingual programs. Zehr says, “The biggest challenge in carrying out the new rules will be coming up with a sufficient number of bilingual certified teachers by 2014” (2) This adaptation does not see that it is going to provide any benefits for the bilingual programs. For that reason, the staff of the school districts currently suffer because they don't know what to expect due to the requirements into the bilingual programs. Harris explains, “Many programs are in a sort of limbo – not knowing what changes to instruction the law requires, lacking certified teachers, and unable to come into compliance”(7). By pointing out these justifications, it is obvious that the mandate does not fully support the main goal of the bilingual programs. Therefore, the mandate does not see that it is providing the adequate enforcement in order to make a balance in the bilingual programs for the preschools in Chicago.
The bilingual programs have been struggling due to the improper fund toward the preschool, and the Conflict Perspective is the influence in this case. The most important resource for the bilingual programs is money that is difficult to obtain from the authorities responsible of the administration and distribution. Harris illustrates, “Money for bilingual education fell by 16 percent from 2009 to 2011, to $63.4 million from $75.7 million, according to state data. State officials recently recommended increasing bilingual financing to $70.4 million for fiscal year 2013” (3). Reducing funds do not seem be quite satisfactory at the point that experts suggest to devote sufficient assets for the bilingual programs. For that reason, the preschools have been experiencing a budget deficit that do not let them be efficient with expectations that the bilingual programs require to do. Malone says, “Many cash-strapped schools worry how to shoulder the costs of the new requirements as their preschool budgets already have been slashed” (3). The limitation of money carries s substantial risk because school districts will not be able to fund the demands for the English Language Learners. When the authorities are controlling the flow of money, it produces issues that will impact the effectiveness of the bilingual programs around Chicago.
The purpose of bilingual programs have more specific meaning in preschools these days. They are created in order to approach English to the children in the classroom by using their native language. This type of transition has a full curriculum on both languages that help providing a security foundation for future literature advance for early learning. However, this method of education has threatened in different ways in the school districts in Chicago. By analyzing with the functional perspective based on the institutions, the results show that they are not able to performer an appropriate administration into the bilingual problems in Chicago. Moreover, the home culture as the standard provide a confirmation of the controversy over the concept to use two languages in education programs instead of conduct only English programs around Chicago’s preschools. Lastly, the conflict perspective demonstrates that strong regulations and lack of funding over the bilingual programs have dominated their progress in the preschool schooling. Above all, bilingual programs have done well, but they can provide better achievement for the schooling for children. Changes are that bilingual programs continue in preschools because no other model is able to maintain all the activities and circumstances that children need when they do not speak English. It is important to emphasis that bilingual programs do not have termed based on ethnic identity in order to provide their services. In other words, any ethnicity can take benefit of this method because it gives a perception of multiculturalism that it can be used as the currents in termed of business, communication, polities matters etc. Therefore, Chicago’s communities have to contribute and support these programs that they just serve them with greatly effort toward common features in the bilingualism.

Works Cited
Ferrante, Joan. Sociology A Global Perspective. 8th ed. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Harris, Rebecca. “Bilingual Pre-K not yet a Reality in all Classrooms.” Catalyst-Chicago. Catalyst Chicago, 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Harris, Rebecca. “Bilingual Teachers in Short Supply for Preschools.” Catalyst-Chicago. Catalyst Chicago, 17 June 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Harris, Rebecca. “Suburban Chicago Schools Lag as Bilingual Needs Grow.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
“Improving Bilingual Education in Chicago Public Schools.” Erikson. Erikson Institute, 2 July 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Lulay, Stephanie. “Lack of Preschool Puts Latino Kids Behind.” Aurora Beacon News. Suntimes, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Malone, Tara. “In Illinois, Bilingual Learning for Non-English Speakers Now Starts in Preschool.” McClatchy – Tribune Business News 14 Sep. 2010: n.pag. ProQuest. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

Soifer, Don. “Challenges Facing Illinois’ Bilingual Preschool Mandate.” Lexington Institute. Lexington Institute, Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
Zehr, Mary. “Bilingual Mandate Challenges Chicago’s Public Preschools.” Education Week. Education Week, 29 Nov. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.