Bilingual Education
 To begin, a bilingual person is someone who can speak two languages or more. Most bilingual people grew up listening to their parents speaking in their native tongue, but when they went to school, they learned another language because it was the language spoken in the environment, they were in. For example, when I was growing up at home, I could recognize that my main language was Spanish and at school it was English. In many ways being bilingual has been a blessing and a curse. I learned about the ways that being bilingual could help me in different areas in my life like getting more job opportunities and more money. In elementary school, learning to read and write in English was not easy. Coming from another country and getting adjusted to a new language wasn’t the simplest thing because I had to slowly remove definitions of words that I had already known from Spanish to English. It was like removing my right arm and replacing it with a new one. It felt like it was completely unnecessary, and it was confusing.
Growing up, it was hard to communicate with others. As a result, to this I felt alone. As I entered the second grade, as an ESL student, there were times I would get pulled out of class to take tests to see if my English was getting any better. Teachers would get frustrated with me when I didn’t understand them, they repeated things to me over and over as if telling me one more time would make me comprehend. This put an insane amount of pressure on my shoulders. What was most difficult was reading, I was always at a level below my current grade level from elementary through middle school and seeing that my classmates were always ahead of me created a feeling of anxiety. If a teacher had asked me to read three paragraphs out loud in class I would say, “Can you skip to someone else?”it wasn’t that I lack knowledge and couldn’t read; it was more personal insecurities such as pronunciation, speed, and accent. I believe these thoughts occur to many students who are bilingual because in school no one makes us aware that it is perfectly fine if the way we speak isn’t flawless because overall the English language to many people can be a very confusing language.
In the seventh grade, my school made all the students take a test on reading and writing. This test determined if students would need to join an after-school reading program. I was chosen for the program; I was hesitant, and I wasn’t happy about it, but it was mandatory. As I went to the after-school program every day I slowly warmed up to the idea. Every day we practiced our reading skills and strategies. Not only did we read but we also wrote in journals to better out our writing skills. The after-school group became a safe space to read and write for me, no one was disrespectful or rude to each other. We all knew why we were there, and it was to get better. I think the program made me more confident in myself and in my capabilities. It also stopped me from questioning myself and what I was able to do.
As I kept going to school, entering high-school and then college I had realize that I was slowly forgetting how to speak in Spanish. To some people this would be surprising but for me, it is a disappointment. I think for some time I couldn’t communicate with my family fully in Spanish as much as I wanted to. I couldn’t replace the sentences I spoke in my mind in English, and I couldn’t seem to translate them. The only way I could speak to them was in broken Spanish or Spanglish. I felt completely ashamed of myself, I thought how was it possible that I could forget my native language that was spoken from a place I was so proud to come from. I asked myself was this my fault for not putting an interest to keep learning? Or was this my parent’s fault for relying on the school to teach me how to read and write in English and neglect a language that didn’t seem important to my education but is important to who I am. I believe students who come from a different country to immigrate to this country at a young age, they should be able to learn both English and the language which they came from. It would be such a great benefit to students if schools could teach us how to read and write in their primary language as well in English because many experts say that it improves problem-solving, critical thinking, and listening abilities, as well as memory, focus, and our capacity to multitask. Children who are fluent in another language increased creativity and mental flexibility.
Being bilingual can be a struggle but having the ability can give me more opportunities and can be of immense help to my future. For example, many job employers may look for employees that speak more than one language to help communicate with people who don’t know English and I could earn more money. For instance, in my future career as a dental hygienist, depending in the area of New York that I choose to do my residency there is a possibility that there will be patients that speak in Spanish and only understand Spanish and will need to be communicated information about their oral hygiene in Spanish. As you can see the use of being bilingual is very important, because it helps us communicate with those who need it and creates comfortability in our communities to those who don’t understand.
To conclude, our education is such an important part of our lives and being able to read and write is completely essential to our development. As we are able to start the journey to become extraordinary people and learn so much about language as it can help communicate with one other and helps us to succeed in life. We should never forget our mother tongue. It is key that we keep teaching ourselves and our future children where do they come from and the language that they speak and also to enhance their knowledge of their culture heritage.
