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Building Bilingual Middle School Students

Source/Author: Amy Brill, Middle School English Teacher

April 29, 2016

Middle School News

Bilingual Students should be the Goal of all Multicultural Programs at Private Schools: Here’s One Way to Make it Happen

Here is a joke for you: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American.

That’s a sad truth we all know, and it’s not just public school students who are not learning another language but also private school students who are taught various languages from at least fifth through twelfth grades. Although there are some who are close to bilingual by graduation, it’s certainly not the majority, and despite recent efforts to change the statistics, there are better ways to inspire the shift -- cultural exchange programs that begin in Middle School.

Just speak to any of the seven Shorecrest middle school students who stayed with French students in two cities in France -- Lyon and Marseille -- over eight days in March. They will tell you that learning to speak French fluently is a life goal now, not just something they do four hours a week in French class.

“This solidified that I want to continue learning French,” says Tia E., one of the four eighth grade students who went on the trip.