Should schools ban Arabic or other languages?

[LisaR]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090115/SCHOOLS/901150395/1409/METRO

When I went to school, many kids spoke to their friends in their native language and it was never a problem. However, we did not have a single student that didn't speak English fluently.

I have a great deal of experience with the Dearborn Public Schools. The number one complaint from my friends that teach there is the language barrier. Many of these kids are not learning English fluently. Generally, the father is very fluent but the mothers usually don't speak a word of English. I know it is a daily headache.

This is my personal experience with the Dearborn schools. When I was considering enrolling my daughter in 1st grade, I went and sat in on two of their classes. Language was a huge problem and this was in one of the schools that is not predominantly Arab. The teachers were taking basic Arabic classes so they could communicate with their students. I didn't enroll my daughter.

 

[Talking Hands]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090115/SCHOOLS/901150395/1409/METRO

When I went to school, many kids spoke to their friends in their native language and it was never a problem. However, we did not have a single student that didn't speak English fluently.

I have a great deal of experience with the Dearborn Public Schools. The number one complaint from my friends that teach there is the language barrier. Many of these kids are not learning English fluently. Generally, the father is very fluent but the mothers usually don't speak a word of English. I know it is a daily headache.

This is my personal experience with the Dearborn schools. When I was considering enrolling my daughter in 1st grade, I went and sat in on two of their classes. Language was a huge problem and this was in one of the schools that is not predominantly Arab. The teachers were taking basic Arabic classes so they could communicate with their students. I didn't enroll my daughter.

No one should be banned from using his first language. Hearing people have been doing this to deaf people for generations and it is disgusting. While they are in class they should be using English but what they so when talking to their friends outside of the classroom is not the business of the schools. You can't just ban Arabic. You would have to ban all foreign lnaguages except in that class. And I can tell you that a lot of these kids who have anothee language as their first language know more English than they let on.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

School children should learn to communicate in the language of government and business and higher education in their respective countries. Retaining their native language is a plus, not a detriment.

My mother learned to speak English in school, and at school. At home she spoke her native language as her Mother did not ever learn English. Neither woman suffered.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I think you did the right thing by not enrolling your child, simply because that class/school was not aimed at fulfilling her needs as a student.

I think this is a more effective tactic than legislation.

Eventually, teachers will change to classes where they can communicate with their children effectively, and students will seek out schools where they can communicate with their teachers.

I think at some point in our nation's future you're going to see us become a lot of little pockets of ethnicity, similar to how we were at our founding. Most people in New Orleans spoke french first, etc.

The french recently mandated all these rules about "french first" and you can see how effective that legislation is .

 

[Cindy B]

Our area is has had an influx of Arabic families in the past five years. As a sub, I have been given a basic arabic "cheat sheet" to communicate with a younger child who was just learning English.

I finished student teaching in a predominately Latino district. I have very limited Spanish but I learned quite a bit from my own students. I also translated letters home from English to Spanish in order to gain some communication with the parents. Some of the parents spoke no English at all, and I felt it was important to bridge that gap and for the parents to see that I was trying.

Outside of the classroom, the students spoke mostly Spanish. I was ok with that. While I was teaching, I would break out a Spanish phrase here and there, to see if they were paying attention! (and also to practice my Spanish). The kids told me that I was the first teacher to try to communicate with them in Spanish. Of course they laughed at some of my words, but I did try. I'll never forget when I said "Look at me" in Spanish to the class-- they were shocked!

It is important in some cases because the parents did not know English. My Spanish wasn't good enough to conduct a full conference but I could manage phrases or write what was needed.

 

[JessR]

people should be able to communicate how they want.

 

[wnissen]

Almost without exception, children learn to speak English just fine.

See this study from a university in Albany, NY: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=282
21% of children of Mexican immigrants don't speak English well. But 79% do! People had the same concerns about Irish, Italian, and Chinese immigrants, and all were successfully assimilated. So no, banning Arabic (which is blatantly unconstitutional) would not help.

An astonishing 70% of third generation Mexican immigrants don't even know how to speak Spanish at all.

Walt

 

[bookgirl]

Inside the classroom or during "school" time, English

Oh the playground or sitting around waiting for the bus or something, then they can speak whatever they want, as long as they are not breaking rules.

For example:
I had spanish speakers in my class....I had a friend teach me the cuss words and bad names.....as soon as I heard one used all the kids in the conversation were on restriction...they quit speaking in spanish after that at least where I could hear them.

At lunch they spoke to each other almost exclusivly in Spanish, I didn't have a problem with that because if wasn't disrupting anything and lunch was their down time.

 

[RitaE]

I don't know.....I heard a radio commercial for the FBI or CIA or somebody like that begging for people with foreign language skills to apply.

Rather than spending so much time griping about these kids and their foreign language, maybe we should hire them to teach our kids some Arabic.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No. And I think schools should be teaching more language than what they do.

In Texas I worked in the school cafeteria. I did subbing for awhile and went to entirely spanish speaking schools, and yes they are public.

I got to use some of my limited spanish and actually was picking up more.

We need more learning and not less. America is so behind.

 

[Barb D]

If I was a child and moved to Kuwait with my family, and there was another American child there, I would be thrilled to find someone to speak English with at recess.