The bilingual education of cuban‐american children in dade county's ethnic schools

Abstract

An ethnographic study was conducted in seven private, low-tuition ethnic schools attended mostly by working-class Cuban-American children.Our study was initially guided by questions that frame the discussion about the education of Hispanic children from these same socio-economic backgrounds in public bilingual programmes. They are the following: -Should schools maintain and develop Spanish? Should all Hispanic children receive instruction in two languages or should Spanish be used only with those not proficient in English? -How does one determine language dominance and is there a difference in the curriculum for Spanish dominant children and English dominant children? -How much instruction in English as a second language should children receive and when should it stop? -Which language should initial reading be in? When should reading in the second language start? The most significant finding of our study was that these four questions were irrelevant in these ethnic community schools. Bilingualism and biliteracy were naturally expected and obtained. We concluded that when Hispanic parents and educators are in control of the education of their own children, they question the educational process itself, and not the role of the minority language or the minority child in the majority school.

Multilingualism in the United States

“…8. See Morison (1995) and Garcia and Otheguy (1995) for a description of two successful developmental bilingual education programs. 9.…”

Bilingual education policy and social justice

“…Student self-esteem, pride in their cultural background and group solidarity Downloaded by [UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE LIBRARIES] at 02:02 17 November 2014 also increased in each case. In other settings, where the needs for bilingualism and biliteracy are so obvious that the question of desirability is never even raised, initial and advanced literacy in two languages becomes possible and full bilingualism becomes a natural and necessary acquisition for all children (Garcia and Otheguy 1987).…”

“…But where the minority community itself becomes more in charge of the schooling process, the entire programme of schooling is directed towards elevating the status of the community and questioning the role of schooling in that process. Language questions become subsumed under much more important issues, among which language is only an all-pervading and sometimes distracting factor (Garcia and Otheguy 1987). When minority language maintenance is initiated in a community, the minority members of that community become the experts: they are the advisers and real controllers of the bilingual education programme; their values shape the educational outcomes.…”

Three curriculum and organisational responses to cultural pluralism in New Zealand schooling

“…Language questions become subsumed under much more important issues, among which language is only an all-pervading and sometimes distracting factor (Garcia & Otheguy, 1987). When minority language maintenance is initiated in a community and when minority culture values influence the organisation of schooling, the minority members of that community become the experts: they are the advisers and real controllers of the education programme; their values shape the educational outcomes.…”