The magic words “make them learn English” from The Economist — Immigration reform was huge this week and with that came talk of whether undocumented immigrants on their path to American citizenship should be required to learn English. As long as they’re not prohibited from speaking their native language, the author says, and I couldn’t agree more. “The solution to this apparent conundrum is very simple: bilingualism. It’s a healthy thing that Americans have historically been too suspicious of.”
The U.S. needs to embrace its Latino personality from The Globe and Mail — A great read about the history of Spanish and Latinos in the U.S. from the author’s of the forthcoming book The Story of Spanish, which I can’t wait to read.
Valley Elementary’s dual language program thrives from Pomerado News — I love reading about successful DL programs and this one in California is no exception. Already in it’s 11th year, the program’s original students are now in high school taking advantage of the gift of being bilingual.
Hoping to hold on to younger generations, Hispanic churches include more English from The Washington Post — “Unlike their immigrant parents who strive to learn English, some younger English-speaking and bilingual Hispanics are so immersed in the American culture that they are choosing to join mainstream English-language churches.” More proof of how native languages are lost by the third generation. I’m pretty sure this will be the case for my bilingual kids: they’ll speak Spanish, but will prefer English.
Great articles. The Story of Spanish looks so interesting.