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At present, there are arguments over whether schools should offer bilingual education for immigrant children who have limited English proficiency. Bilingual education is when students receive some of their content instruction in one language and some in another language. Some immigrants believe that this type of education will not benefit them. However, others, included myself, think that all immigrants should have the opportunity for a bilingual education, especially in cities that have large immigrant populations. Although, bilingual education requires an investment of money and time on the part of government, bilingual education should be offered to children, particularly the children of first or second generation immigrants who live in cities with large populations of bilingual residents. Bilingual education should be offered because it will increase professional and academic opportunities for children of immigrants, it will make the process of adapting to a new culture easier for immigrants, and it will also support family unity and pride in immigrant communities.
There are some people who live in Arizona voted for dismantling bilingual education, but they must be unaware of the facts on how bilingual education could benefit and affects our profession and academic opportunities. According to Krashen (2001), children with their first language education could assist them to learn or improve a second language. For instance, when children have learned the courses in the first language, the knowledge they acquired could serve as tools to adapt a new language. These tools will help the students who are taking courses in English. In other words, if children of immigrants could apply the techniques or knowledge of learning the first language to their second language, they will learn it faster than their native language. Also, bilingual education is one type of education that uses both languages for instruction which includes English and native language. This...