advantages of a bilingual educationhave been discussed and researched for decades and are well documented. It has been shown that learning a second language, particularly from an early age, has a cognitive and academic benefit. Even if students have difficulties entering French immersion programs in the beginning, I see bilingual education as a precious gift that we can offer our children. Beside cognitive and academic benefit that have been proved by many researchers, economic advantages are also very important. Beside higher employment rates, bilingual advantages extend to individual income. We live in a very competitive world, where being able to speak another language is always an asset. In addition, in an increasingly globalized world where we become more inter-related, bilingual education offers so many opportunities. Bilingual education also gives the opportunity to discover another culture and expands your personal horizons. In my opinion, it is also a positive factor in social development (imagine how many new friends you can make if you speak one more language). Additionally, bilingual education builds a solid base, where learning a third language will be much easier and I can confirm it. Personally, despite all debates, I see more advantages in bilingual education. I believe that it is a precious gift that students will often appreciate after graduation.
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Bilingualism in Canada is an important feature of both the educational and political climate in Canada. As our research suggested there are clear cognitive advantages to bilingual education. It provides the youth of Canada with the skills they will need to succeed in an increasingly global workforce. It will open doors for them to pursue occupations across Canada as well as on the global stage.
Personally, I think Canada should do more to promote, not just bilingualism but, multilingualism. A policy of multilingualism would support our multicultural society and help to heal wounds caused by colonialism. The act of recognizing the legitimacy of the First Nations, Inuit and Metis right to classify their languages as official would be a first step on the path to reconciliation. It would also legitimize their claim to the land. Additionally, an official move to a multilingual language policy would provide a space for Canadian residents from all over the world to feel included and valued. Any official policy that creates a culture of inclusion and exclusion, us and the other, is also institutionally acknowledging the worth of one segment of the population while also signifying another's worthlessness. However, as the research demonstrated even implementing bilingualism on a national level left room for improvement. The question then is how do we move from an imperfect bilingual national policy to one of multilingualism? It is my belief that multilingualism is the direction that Canada should move towards to include all of its citizens as equals. That being said, the best way to make such a colossal change is beyond my intellect, alone. The answer will be discovered when Canada broadcasts its desire to collaborate in a meaningful way with all of the citizens that fall under its domain. There will never be a perfect system but there can certainly be a better, more inclusive one then that of the current language policy. We will never know how much our language policy can be improved upon until we try. The topic of bilingual education covers extensive areas of research, thus we have decided to focus on bilingualism in Canada. Our group research has addressed different perspectives to answer the question: Should schools offer bilingual programs? I believe that schools in Canada should offer bilingual education programs because they are in high demand. We also cannot ignore the research findings on benefits of being bilingual and the fact that Canada has two official languages – English and French.
I consider that these two official languages have created a separation between Francophones and Anglophones in Canada. The Official Languages Act was established in 1969 to promote bilingual services in government and to increase employment opportunities for Francophones who were under-represented at the time in the English dominated government. The purpose of this act was to give equal opportunities to Francophones and Anglophones; however, unfortunately, the act did not help two language communities to unite. As our research has identified, there are more bilingual Francophones than bilingual Anglophones in Canada; therefore Anglophones are pressured to become English-French bilinguals to secure employment. Many families wish their children to be bilinguals from an early age. As is evident, motivation for language learning mainly stems from employment opportunities, not so much from the support for multilingualism and multiculturalism. Separation also exists in education. In Ontario, even if parents wish to enroll their child in a school within a publicly funded French school board, unless either one of the parents speaks French as his/her first language or has completed his/her education in French, it is difficult. Therefore, parents who do not meet these criteria have to resort to immersion programs in English school boards. In order to improve the quality of French immersion programs, I suggest that bilingual education programs in Canada should be developed in a way to produce linguistically and culturally more balanced bilinguals. Immersion programs should incorporate contents that would promote linguistic and cultural interaction with Francophone students. For example, immersion students can visit French schools in the same city and have integrated sports activities, or Francophone students can read to Anglophone students. In this way, the immersion students gain more authentic opportunities to use the language. One of the criticisms toward immersion programs is that language used in classrooms is not a true representation of French language. More importantly, through such integrated activities, immersion students make friends in both language communities and learning French becomes more meaningful, thus students may make further efforts to excel. Once students lose motivation, for example, if they think they do not need to learn French to secure employment, it is hard for them to keep their interests in learning the language. Last but not least, Canadians should accept functional bilinguals. Immersion students should be confident in their language skills even if they speak with accents and have some grammatical errors. Lack of confidence would only diminish the opportunities to use the language. Similarly, Francophones should be tolerant of Anglophone’s errors in French. My hope is that Canadians embrace and be proud of individual differences in education and in society as a whole. Bilingualism is a very culturally sensitive topic. If you are Canadian, it touches you…those official languages English and French, laden with religious and cultural significance. Language oppression has been met with efforts of language preservation. But it has not been enough to retain a bilingual Canada, a Canada dominant in English tongue.
In the end, the question we ask ourselves is: Is true bilingualism an illusion? One we want to preserve? If we are going to continue the pursuit of programs that promote and sustain this sense of bilingualism, we must be convinced of their goals and motivations. Otherwise, this “bilingualism” will be anchored to a debt and its fate will be all too obvious. When are we going to give up feeling threatened to embrace the richness of learning a second, third, or fourth language and its culture? Is there hope in embracing bilingualism among the diversity with which we approach our future? Are our education systems trying to prioritize in the right direction? Consistent efforts must be made to overcome our fears, be humble, and accept people and the way they choose to express themselves linguistically and culturally. It is here the essence of the pursuit of retaining and preserving a language will flourish. Allow our neighbour room for error when they are attempting to speak a second language and accept or give correction when it is requested…we need to speak about tolerance. We need to decide whether our languages need to be perfect or whether it is alright to just adequately express ourselves to others. Reflect on what it is that makes us proud to be Canadian…in there, somewhere, you will find the discourse of bilingualism. |
Luke van Schaik, Mizuki Hoshino, Joanne Barette, & Larisa AverkievaThe contributors/creators of this website are Primary/Junior Teacher Candidates at the University of Ottawa. ArchivesCategories |