Preview

The Importance Of Bilingualism In Miami

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1384 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Importance Of Bilingualism In Miami
I come from a small island in the Caribbean known as Puerto Rico. On this island Spanish is the central language, leading me to be fluent in Spanish. Later in my life as I grew, went to school and watched American TV I learned English, turning me bilingual. Bilingualism is defined as the ability to converse in two different languages. Were I come from most of my family and friends are bilingual, but when I came to Miami I didn’t expect to meet many people that could speak Spanish. As I began to observe the people from Miami I knew that this wasn’t the case. If you go to any place in Miami, you will probably find someone who is fluent in both English and Spanish. I found this extremely weird; I didn’t expect to encounter so much bilingualism in Miami. …show more content…
UM is known as a diverse school filled with students from all around the world so I decided to use UM as my mini United States. In UM I heard everyone around me the things they said, what they talked about and what language they used. While eavesdropping on people’s conversations I noticed that Spanish was not very popular among the students. Although listening to student’s conversation did help me understand that bilingualism is not popular in the United States, it didn’t help me understand why. Through my research I found that around the world more countries are starting to become bilingual, I even found that: “It has been estimated that more than half the world's population is bilingual.” (Myth About Bilingualism). So the question is why is the most immigrant filled country in the world not the most bilingual country in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Ece 315

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In America, there is a predominant growth in multiple ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; leading to the usage of multiple languages in the American culture. There is a growing need for many people to learn and utilize multiple languages within the workplace and within one 's own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple languages is ever increasing, and therefore becoming more important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.…

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article by Phillip M. Carter “It’s time for Miami to embrace bilingualism” Carter uses rhetorical appeals to convince the audience to protect Miami’s Spanish speaking culture. Carter specifically puts responsibility on public policy and the educational system to promote and protect bilingualism (Spanish and English) in Miami.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bilingual education is certainly a subject of controversy because there is a great number of positives and negatives that are associated with the topic. Many individuals agree that children should be fluent in two…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bilingual education and economic inequality are just two of the many issues Texans deal with in today’s society. In “What is Bilingual Education,” Stephen Krashen defines bilingual education as “any use of two languages in school – by teachers or students or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical (educational) purposes” (1). Bilingual education confrontations in Texas are due to the overwhelming amount and diversity of immigrants in the past fifteen years. While good for population growth, bilingual issues are putting stress on our education system. It seems society will always be adjusting to incoming students with language barriers, yet instead of helping them in the best possible way, we continue to debate on how people feel. (Krashen 2)…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although Spanish is the language of the Hispanic heritage, those residing in the United States do not all choose to speak the language. As of 2002, only 51% of Mexican Americans were Spanish dominant, 26% were bilingual, and 23% were English dominant. The percentages vary between the different Hispanic groups. The Puerto Ricans represent the highest percentage of English dominant Hispanics. Statistics show only 21% of Puerto Ricans are Spanish dominant, 40% are bilingual, and 39% are English dominant (Schaefer, 2006). The numbers of English-speaking Cubans and South/Central America are even smaller. Less than 31% of Cubans speak a language other than Spanish in their homes. In South American it is possible for the native language to be Portuguese, French, or Dutch. Recapping the percentages show the concern of political figures rallying for English as the “Official Language.”…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Being bilingual is a good skill to achieve your goals or to get a job and friends.…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bilingual education has been looked down on for various reasons. Most of the beliefs behind the reasons are due to misconceptions about bilingual education students. While bilingual education can be for any student who’s primary language is not English, those of Hispanic descent are the largest majority. Possibly due to this fact, they are looked down upon and are seen in a negative light.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s schools the majority of its students are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English. This is due to the abundance of Latin Americans coming to the United States in search of new or more opportunities, or simply a better life and education for their children than the one they would have had back in their home country. Being bilingual has not always been viewed as a norm like it is today, or like it has always been here in Florida, specifically in Miami. In other states, such as California, they did not embrace bilingualism in the same manner. In the article “Why this bilingual educational ban should have repealed long ago” by Phillip M. Carter, he effectively argues on why this ban on bilingual education should have been turned…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    College students choose shift from minority language to language to majority because of social identity and expanded networks. Identity is the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. Many bilinguals feel pressured from the wider society to speak English. Stigma and prestige are factors that lead to social identity. Several have stopped speaking Spanish because they are afraid of being laughed at. From my personal experience with speaking Spanish here at Western is that we can learn from the people around us. There is not one language that works in every situation but there is a special bond between people who speak similar and share speech patterns. Speech is part of who we are, and bilingual students should be able to speak both equally.…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gator Elementary is a bilingual campus that provides services to students both in English and Spanish. In grades PreK – 4th, 50% of each grade level has classroom providing English and Spanish instruction. In 5th grade, it moves from 60/40% and in 6th it is 30%. Math, Science and Social Studies is taught in English using sheltered strategies for second language learners.…

    • 62 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Chapter 9, Santibañez and Záratea find a positive correlation between being bilingual and the odds of going to college, which strengthens the previous discussion about bilingual advantages in the job market (Chapter 7) and educational institutions (Chapter 8). Specifically, this study suggests Spanish-English bilinguals who frequently use their native language at home are likely to have more linguistic and human capital advantage than those who do not, thereby accusing linguistic assimilation of reducing such benefits in the long run. In Chapter 10, Porras and colleagues’ analyses support the prior findings that bilingualism aid in job seeking and advancement by obtaining both quantitative and qualitative data from stakeholders. Although their results do not show that bilingual employees receive more income, bilinguals’ economic benefits often appear in the hiring process. Clearly, these facts would motivate educators to assist learners to benefit from bilingualism and seize the opportunities provided by the growing trend of international…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My idea of interest is the importance of being bilingual. Our schools in America don't focus on a teaching kids a second language. As a Hispanic, and American citizen, being bilingual is very important to me. I learned Spanish and English as a kid, and this had led me to have better communication, and has opened more opportunities for me. I chose this topic because it will raise awareness and lead many Americans to better communicate with the Hispanic community. The American society needs to adapt to foreigners instead of persecuting them.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The analysis for the Bilingual Education Attitudes Survey theorizes that items in the survey have a strong correlation, which demonstrates evidence for construct validity. Measuring both the convergent and discriminant validity supports this theory because in Table 1, there is a very strong positive correlation between the first administration (r= .91) and a strong positive correlation with the second administration (r= .86), in relation to the previously validated bilingual education scale. Moreover, when analyzing the correlation between the BE Attitudes Survey and the Social Desirability Index, there is a very weak correlation between both the first administration (r= .12) and the second administration (r= .26). This means that the…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The author says that drop out rate in various schools across North America has reduced significantly. In my own opinion, I have agreed what author’s says. The result of the school have drop out the school rate because student have to study in two different languages. Two different languages may be making the student confuse although they are studying a same subject. For example, In Malaysia, Government has come out with an idea where study mathematics in two different language such as English and Mandarin for primary school. I think that government should not conduct bilingual education for primary or secondary student as this will make them more stressful.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Germany, students begin to learn Russian at age ten, while in Primary Schools. Education is given in Primary Schools from age six to fourteen. The students then go on to Secondary Schools until age eighteen where a four-year course is available. “In Secondary Schools the pupils learn English or French as their second foreign language, and possibly Latin also” (Taylor 261). German students are more diverse and well-rounded as a whole by learning a variety of languages. They know a variety of different languages by time they graduate high school. On the contrary, students in the United States are only exposed to foreign languages for a few weeks in middle school. They learn…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays