...The official Language Movement One of the main reasons that many immigrants come to the United States is to provide their children an education that they would not have received in their country or origin (Destination Casa Blanca, 2009). Children who struggle with language barriers would benefit from bilingual and early education programs to detect in what areas students are in need of help as they start their learning development. Yet others state that many immigrants and other students have achieved their goals without such programs and they would therefore be a waste of tax money and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. The issue is strong in education. Many immigrants and Americans that have children attending public schools have different views and organizations to support those feeling and beliefs. Schaefer (2006) states that “until the last 20 or 30 years there was a conscious effort to devalue the Spanish language and to discourage Hispanics from using it in schools (p. 242). In the 1960s, the school boards in the Southwest, Florida, and New York City enforced a “No Spanish” rule and up until 1968 it was illegal to teach in any language other than English in California. English as a second language (ESL) programs tend to emphasize bilingual but not bicultural education (Schaefer, 2006). Some Hispanics strongly oppose bilingualism, believing that English-only education, even for very young children, is the key to success. The growth of the Hispanic population...
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...1 The Official Language Movement Your Name ETH/125 Date Instructor 2 The Official Language Movement When it comes to the constant debate over bilingual education there are many sources that can be reflected on . Part of all this is society personal attitudes when it comes to immigrants. (Rolf Kjolseth 2000). Many American, although not always conscious of their actions, often show a hypocritical double standard when it comes to bilingualism. On one side, they show pride and encourage a natural born American citizen that studies abroad learning a foreign language and becoming bilingual, at the same time they expect that all immigrants stop using their native languages and use only the English language to communicate. (Porter 1998) Much of the debate over bilingual education stems from an unrealistic expectation of immediate results. (Jim Cummins 2002). The public automatically believe that students should immerse themselves into the American culture and learn English and forget about their previous cultural background. Although many studies have shown that bilingual education provides a positive environment during the learning and social growth of many language-minority students, the opposition while mostly politically motivated has shown to have the upper hand when it come to most states debates. Many believe that being able to speak multiple languages in politics produces confusion among the citizens of a country. Any individual living in the United...
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...The official language movement has created a lot of controversy in both education and politics. Even former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, said "Citizenship requires passing a test on American History in English. If that’s true, we do not have to create ballots in any other language except English," (2007). Mr. Gingrich also stated that to allow bilingualism will pose long term dangers to our nation and that bilingual education should be replaced with immersion in English. There is even debate as to whether legislation should be passed requiring that all drivers’ license test be given in English only. The argument is that with some road signs going digital, you need to be able to read what is being said and not just recognize the symbol. Advocates say that this is a matter of safety (Crist, 2011). While many non-Hispanic white Americans are opposed to bilingualism in schools - teaching a second language to students who already speak English, there are many organizations that favor it. According to The Preschool English Learners (2005) website, many children throughout the world learn to speak two languages and research indicates there are distinct cognitive, communicative, and cultural advantages to being bilingual. It also states that a key factor to mastering a second language is the age and extent of exposure to each language. The biggest debate in education is over whether non-English speaking students should be put into English immersion classes or bilingual...
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...become proficient in the English Language” is agreed upon by opponents and proponents of bilingual education. The proponents state “that bilingual education is simply the most effective method for fostering the acquisition of English.” In describing many bilingual programs the Center for Equal Opportunity states that “students who don’t speak English are locked away in special programs that try to maintain native languages rather that teach English, often without their parents consent.” 2) This article discusses the public policy questions and the history of bilingualism in education in America. Most people do not realize the complexity and the history of bilingualism in America. The use of more than one language by a community has been part of the American social and political landscape for more than two centuries (Kloss, 1977). According to the wishes of parents in Ohio in 1839, the law allowed for instruction in German, English, or both in the public schools. There are probably less students receiving Spanish-English instruction than at the turn of the century when six hundred thousand elementary students were receiving all or part of their education in German, according to Kloss, 1977. The article proceeds to further discuss the political issues surrounding bilingual education. 3) From an NBC correspondent Miguel Almaguer is an article discussing bilingual education in a school district in Charlotte, N.C. In the Collinswood Language Academy students learn subjects like...
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...English Should be the Official Language of the United States This is America and we primarily speak English, so English should be the official language of the United States. The movement to pass federal laws designating English as the Official Language of the United States has jumped to the forefront of political debate once again. As most debates have two distinct sides, so does this one. English only movements have surfaced many times in our country’s past but mainly at the local or State level (Brice, 2013). The argument has become more relevant recently due to well-funded lobbyist and immigration reform disputes. As with many controversial concerns in the political arena, this topic has become problematic. Activist are attempting to persuade political candidates, law makers, educators, social groups, individuals and the media by polluting the process with conjecture rather than critical analysis based in rational attestable information. In the interest of objectivity, we will use professional research and omit personal opinion while presenting arguments in support of this movement. We will equitably represent opposing views which demonstrate that there are legitimate concerns as to why the United States should not have English as the official language. To counter manipulative tactics and confusing statements, it is important to define the major terms associated with this topic: Official- A person who has a position of authority in a company, organization...
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...Different Languages in the US The United States has many different languages, but the most common by far is English, although other languages such as Spanish and French are also quite common. According to the CIA World Factbook, on a census taken in 2000: * 82.1% of Americans speak English * 10.7% of Americans speak Spanish * 3.8% of Americans speak another Indo-European language (www.cia.gov) These results can be slightly surprising since the assumption by many Americans would be that there are a higher percentage of people who speak English in the United States. Enrollment percentages in languages classes have also been on the rise, and since 1970 Spanish has been the most popular language that has been taken, followed by French. According to the U.S. Institutions of Higher Education: * 52.2% of students are enrolled in some sort of Spanish class * 13.1% of students are enrolled in some sort of French class (vistawide.com) The speakers of theses multiple languages can be found all over the United States, but languages like French and Spanish can be found in more concentrated in specific areas of the United States. English is by far the most commonly spoken language and can be found in high percentages in every populated area of the United States. According to the maps by the Modern Language Association or MLA, the Spanish language tends to be very highly concentrated in the American Southwest, Southern Texas, Southern Florida, and big diverse cities...
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...Should Be Declared the Official Language of the Unites States of America Declaring English as the official language of the United States is a very controversial issue. We have one flag, one government, however no official language. Making English the official language would unite all Americans, no matter the race, creed, culture, heritage or ancestry. In 1907, US President Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationally and not dwellers in a polyglot boarding house” (English-only movement/Wikipedia). There were as many as twenty different languages that could be heard around the time of our founding fathers. Today, there are presently three hundred twenty nine languages in the United States (US Census 2010). Immigrants of many nationalities have built our nation. Just look our nations motto, E pluribus Unum, (Latin meaning – out of many, one) which was adapted by the committee of Congress on July 4, 1776 to design “a seal for the United States of America”, which is carried by the American eagle. The nation has but one flag which we “pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (MacAuthur). However, 236 years later the United State still has no official language. Casler -2- ...
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...North Frisian as an Endangered Language Despite the North Frisian language being classified as an endangered minority language confined to a small region in Northern Germany and having fewer speakers annually, as newer generations are born and learn more established Germanic dialects, there is a strong movement dedicated to preserving the language from the German government as well as international organizations through the implementation of academic programs, transcription of manuscripts, dictionaries, and literature, and extensive assistance from existing native speakers, which intends to maintain an active interest in and use of the language. A language becomes endangered when its speakers no longer pass it onto the next generation. If there are no more native speakers, the language then becomes known as a “dead language.” A language only becomes extinct when there are no existing speakers of it. Although there are no established guidelines on how to identify whether or not a language is endangered, there are several indicators that are examined to determine if one is endangered: the number of living speakers, the mean age of native and fluent speakers, and the percentage of the youngest generation acquiring fluency with the language in question. These three criteria each influence how a language is evaluated, and one indicator does not always necessitate the other two. Endangered languages are not always languages with few speakers. Even though small communities are...
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...Is it good to have English as global language? What is a global language? Does it mean that everyone in the world speaks English? This is certainly not true. Does it mean, then, that every country in the world recognizes Englis has an official language? This is not true either. So what? A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. There are two main ways in which this can be done. Firstly, a language can be made the official language of a country, to be used as a medium of communication in such domains as government, the law courts, the media, and the educational system. Secondly, a language can be made a priority in a country’s foreign-language teaching, even though this language has no official status. It becomes the language which children are most likely to be taught when they arrive in school. Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism. There is the closest of links between language dominance and economic, technological, and cultural power...
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...It is not surprising that there should be so much confusion and conflict over the issue of language. It is assumed that it is single problem with a unique solution. One group argues that English language owes its position to British imperialism and that it is inconsistent with national self-respect to continue to use it to the exclusion of our beautiful regional languages. A second group contents that, whatever the evils of British imperialism, English has helped Indian nationalism to achieve freedom; that it has been the vehicle of higher education, technology and scientific research and that it has been the invaluable link for forging the unity of India and any attempt to discard it will result in a breakdown of our educational system and take the country back by two centuries in all aspects of modern life A third group is convinced that as all regional languages of India arc well developed and have worth literatures, all of them should have equal status. There is a lot of confused thinking going on in India today over the problem of finding a universally acceptable link language for the country. The debate on the subject rages 'ad infinitum' in all available forums like the parliament, the press, the platform etc; but none of the many points of view being put forward every day appears to be gaining acceptance. That is so mainly because most of the thinking on the subject is super-charged with emotion and the issues involved have been greatly clouded by the import of prejudices...
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...The Official Language Movement The official language movement is a very important Hispanic American cultural interest. Bilingualism in education and politics is a significant issue in the United States. There have been many federal policies that have become very restrictive in allowing local authorities to decide if English should be the only language used in educational methods and within political parties. Bilingualism in education has and always will be a controversial topic. Language barriers are often a huge problem for people who consider English to be their second language (ESL). Bilingual education has positive and negative sides. The negative points are bilingual education is expensive and people who are bilingual are often stereotyped as poor or uneducated (University Of Michigian, 2012). The positive points of bilingual education are it allows immigrants to avoid assimilation by not having to learn English, the dominant language and teaching students in their language gives them equal opportunity for a good education (University Of Michigian, 2012). According to Campbell (2006-2012), “Conservative forces mobilized throughout the nation in the 1980s and 1990s to attack taxes, schools, and bilingual education. Since the 1990s, these same groups have frequently attacked multicultural education as divisive to national unity.” Some people say they are offended and believe that since immigrants are in the United States, they should conform to our standards of education...
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...Romany Romany, or Romani, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 5-6 million Roma people throughtout Europe and the USA. The largest concetration of Roma people live in Romania. In English these people are often called Gypsies. The language is closely related to the languages of northern India, particularly Punjabi, and the Roma are thought to have originally come from that region. Some people consider Romany to be a group of dialects while others think there are several, closely-related Romany languages. The Muslim invasions of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent around 1000 AD resulted in massive movements of populations, probably including the ancestors of the Roma, who are thought to have moved into Anatolia. In 1300, after the Mongolian invasion of Europe, the Roma moved west into Europe and took up a mainly nomadic lifestyle. Romany alphabet (Romani šib) This is the official standard alphabet for Romany. It was standardized in 1990 at the Fourth World Romani Congress in Serock, Poland. This alphabet is used by all the Romany languages/dialects except Carpathian Romany and Finnish Romany. Romani alphabet Lovari Roma The Lovari are subgroup of the Roma people who speak a dialect of Romani influenced by Hungarian. They live in many parts of Europe, including Hungary, Romania, Poland, France, Germany, Italy and Greece. Lovari Romani alphabet and pronunciation Lovari Romani alphabet and pronunciation Sample text in Romani Sa e manušikane strukture bijandžona...
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...Education on the West Coast. In this part of Canada for example ”… immigration was the primary factor in shaping the mass schooling movement, but it did so in ways quite different from those on the East Coast of the continent”( Historica Canada, 2015,np ). Religion and Minority-Language Education form one of the fundamental themes in the history of Canada’s learning society -A high level of educational dispute and disagreement has involved religion and language. The founding of schools brought local training under official examination and forced communities to accept the recommended standards of basic instruction which did not agree with the reality of a multicultural society. For example,” …religious groups did not always agree on the desirability of nondenominational Christian curricula, and their protests led to the growth of parallel Catholic and Protestant school systems in Québec, the provision for separate schools in provinces such as Ontario, and a completely denominationally based school system in Newfoundland (Historica Canada, 2015, np). The higher levels of Asian immigration and rising prejudice developments continued to form one of the fundamental themes in the history of Canada’s learning society, schooling developed somewhat differently on the West Coast than in the rest of Canada. One noteworthy...
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...English. By 1910 German-English , French-English and Spanish-English schools were flourishing. World War I, however brought renewed patriotism and a fear of foreign governments and languages. By the end of the 1920’s most schools were English only despite the fact that the Congress ruled it unconstitutional to prohibit language instruction in a pupil’s native tongue. After decades of English only instruction that was failing the immigrants, the Bilingual Education Act was passed in 1968. This provided monetary support to the schools so that they could implement native language instruction to help the bourgeoning immigrant population. After so many years of English only instruction this proved to be difficult since few teachers were equipped to teach bilingually. The Canadian system was used as a model for this instruction however it did not work as well in California with Spanish speakers who were predominantly from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The Canadian system was designed for an affluent population who had developed a high literacy in their native language. Literacy learned in the native language translates to the language being learned (Lecture, 2013). By 1974 legislation required schools to implement programs to help the non-English speaking children to attain the necessary language skills to be successful. It was suggested that the schools use programs that were considered to be successful according to the research. The schools would further need to provide trained...
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...What do I know now about the module ? Different types of written languages are studied by linguists, the logograms including both pictograms (pictures or symbols that represent an object or an idea) and ideograms (symbol that represent an idea) still used today in languages like Chinese, phonograms including syllabaries (system of writing based on syllable sounds) used today for Japanese or Cree, and to finish alphabets. The last category, alphabets, comes from the Sumerian script that was later replaced by the Phoneician Alphabet which is itself the ancestor of both Semitic (Arabic and Hebrew) and Greek writing system. The English spelling started to be development in Old English with the introduction of the Latin Alphabet, when the...
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