Knowing Bilingual Instruction is Effective, and Lacking Bilingual Teachers, What Can We Do?

Research is quite clear on the benefits of bilingual instruction. These start early on, with preschool children learning two languages already showing cognitive and social advantages over monolingual children. We know it is easier for students to learn to read in their primary language and then carry skill over to a second language, rather than learning to read first in a language they don’t speak as well. In fact, many literacy skills, from phonological awareness (hearing the different sounds in a language) to some vocabulary, transfer across languages. Recent research has also found that being bilingual protects against cognitive decline later in life.

These are all great arguments in favor of providing bilingual instruction. But in places that don’t already have bilingual programs in place, where there might be a shortage of qualified bilingual teachers, how can educators still recognize and build on the value of bilingualism? It turns out there are meaningful things that teachers, schools, and districts can all do to promote and value bilingualism in their students.

Knowing the research, teachers, for example, can encourage parents to read with their children or have their children read to them in any language that works for the family. Reading at home in Spanish or Russian will still be helpful to students’ ability to read in English. Parents don’t always know that and may not read with their children in their home language, fearing they might be holding their children back in English, but teachers can share that information with them. Teachers can also find out as much as possible about what incoming students are able to do in their home language (by testing or talking with parents), and build on those skills rather than reteaching them. For example, if students can already sound out words in Spanish, they do not need intensive instruction on how to do this in English, except to learn about sound/letter combinations that are different in English than in Spanish.

Schools can, of course, start bilingual programs, if the number of students speaking that primary language and the availability of qualified teachers in that language makes this feasible. Even when it isn’t, they can arrange to have new students’ reading and language knowledge tested in their home language, at least for the most common language groups in the school, and they can share that information with teachers. They can promote and celebrate bilingualism in their communications with parents, can create bilingual signs in the school building and develop and share resources in multiple languages. They can also ensure that the school library and classroom libraries include books in students’ home languages.

Even if districts feel hampered in their ability to develop bilingual programs in the short run, they can take a long-term view and prepare for a multilingual future. Some districts create scholarship programs for their bilingual students interested in education, so they can become teachers and return to the district to start or enhance local bilingual education programs. They can also create pathways for native speakers of other languages, and particularly for experienced paraprofessional educators, to earn their teaching certification and/or bilingual certification.

Growing their own bilingual educators takes time, of course. In the meantime, for their older students, districts can offer high school foreign language credit to students for their ability to read, write, speak and understand a language other than English; tests exist in many languages to determine the number of credits that students can earn in this way. Districts can also recognize the value of bilingualism by issuing a certificate of bilingualism and biliteracy to bilingual students upon graduation, as a growing number of districts and even states are doing.

In short, you don’t have to speak Vietnamese or Chinese or Spanish or Russian yourself, in order to encourage students whose families speak those languages to develop them to the highest level possible. It’s beneficial to students in the near term, and in the long term, there are economic benefits to the community and the state of being able to connect deeply with nations around the world.

So many schools and districts already have some great programs along these lines in place. What do you do, in your school or district? What do you see working well?