In 2024, it’s not uncommon to hear about the importance of raising children to thrive in an increasingly global society. If we take this to mean that part of a child’s learning journey should encompass an education around nations, cultures, languages, and experiences beyond their own, alongside an appreciation for their unique heritage, the sentiment is unequivocally sound. After all, the internet connects us beyond our own worlds—moreover, the United States is more ethnically and racially diverse than ever, according to the 2020 Census.
Multicultural and dual-language-based learning have long been of profound value. But in this “increasingly global society,” they are arguably of even greater benefit to children and adults alike, helping facilitate everything from ease of communication while traveling, to professional opportunities, to a love for one’s own cultural background, to empathy for those different to ourselves. When it comes to fostering such goals in our little ones, bilingual schools can be the optimal environment. They may be wonderful options for Latine families striving to balance the preservation of identity and language with pursuits of immersion, inclusion, and success in the broader culture of residence.
In an American Federation of Teachers article, Claude Goldenberg and Kristin Wagner examined the history of dual-language schooling in the U.S., tracing it back to the 17th century. When the colonial government in Virginia found itself in need of Polish manufacturing skills for both shipbuilding and glassmaking but unable to effectively communicate and collaborate with Polish immigrants, these settlers established the first known bilingual school in the colonies. While it’s evident that said government had a pretty clear capitalistic endeavor on its mind, this set a precedent in the future United States for more dual-language schools, including German, Dutch, Czech, Italian, French, Arabic, and Spanish.
As for Español, it was the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s that largely led to the modern era of bilingual education in the U.S. “Cubans fleeing their native island after 1959 were overwhelmingly from the professional and business classes and were intent on succeeding in their new English-speaking home while maintaining their language and culture,” wrote Goldenberg and Wagner. “The bilingual programs they established in Florida were and remain among the most successful in the country... In keeping with the American bilingual tradition, they were becoming part of the fabric of American society while maintaining their own distinct linguistic and cultural strands, both in and out of school.”
Navigating the "Best" of Both Worlds
Today, there are both private and public bilingual Spanish/English schools across the country. Ana Zambrana, M.S., who is now a Demonstration Teacher at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Early Learning Center for Research and Practice, attended one such public school in Miami for her elementary years. There, she received instruction in both English (science, social studies, and language arts) and Spanish (orthography and math).
“As a result of me attending [this school], I became fluent in Spanish,” she tells Familia by Parents. “I can read, write, and speak in Spanish. Our school also had an alliance with the Embassy of Spain in the U.S., and the embassy provided instructional materials and curriculum to our Spanish teachers based on what and how school was being taught in Spain.”
For many Latine families raising children today, Zambrana’s experiences likely seem idyllic. Being able to attend a school that emphasized Spanish alongside English actually increased her fluency in the former. As many Latine carers know, young children often begin to forget or lose the Spanish spoken in their homes when they become of schooling age and English becomes the default language their teachers and peers speak. A bilingual studies program might just serve as an antidote to that struggle.
However, an issue many families may find themselves considering is that existing in a country that is more multicultural on paper does not always translate to more acceptance and tolerance of diversity day-to-day. NBC News reported that “2021 [saw] a significant increase in hate crimes against the Latino community,” and, “Nationally, FBI statistics released [in 2022] show that hate crimes increased 47 percent from 2019 to 2022, [with] just over 60 percent of those crimes [being] racially motivated.”
When it comes to bilingual and international schools (many of which are private schools where wealth abounds), lower-income Latine parents and carers may wonder whether these institutions will actually welcome their children. That is, are these schools as kind to racially and ethnically diverse children already speaking another language at home as they might be to Caucasian students whose families want them to learn a second language?
An Imperfect Solution
Cristiana Guzman, who attended a dual-language public charter school in the Northeast, was one of the few Latine students present throughout her elementary and middle school years. Most other pupils were Caucasian. “I remember feeling incredibly different from everyone else purely because of the color of my skin and the fact that Spanish was spoken in my home, rather than just during school hours,” she tells Familia by Parents. “There was never any overt racism per se, but I never shook the feeling of ‘otherness’ despite having some good friends and teachers.
“I think this feeling would’ve followed me at any local school, though. When the demographic of an area is predominantly white, Latinx kids are bound to feel different. At least this way, I got to increase my fluency in my parents’ native language and feel a little closer to my culture.”
At her public school in Miami, Zambrana’s experiences were purely positive. “I definitely felt welcomed and celebrated as most students at the school were of Latinx heritage,” she says. “It was also a school where children came from low-income, working-class families. The school was part of the public school system in Miami, but it felt like a private school because of all the hands-on learning that took place and the fact that we also had to wear uniforms daily. Also, most of the teachers at school were of Latinx descent, too.”
Dr. Rebecca Palacios, National Teacher Hall of Fame inductee, National Board Certified Teacher, author of the Ana book series, and pioneer in the field of dual language learning, tells Familia by Parents that, as with any program that is implemented with fidelity, funding is essential to its success, and this holds true for the future of bilingual education. “Monies to pay teachers in these schools is critical as well as funding for resources (books, guides, materials) in the languages of instruction,” she says. “I hope to see improved funding for dual language immersion schools.”
She adds, “Latinx students come with a wealth of knowledge and experience with language as well as lived experiences that schools should treasure and build on.”
For Latine families sending their children to a dual-language school, she also recommends learning how to navigate the system. “This is a huge disconnect for many families that had little to no or interrupted schooling in their native countries,” she says. “Specially designed programs for families entering schools for the first time are needed, most especially if they come from another country.”
Although the Center for Applied Linguistics has created a user-friendly Dual Language Program Directory to help families find bilingual elementary, middle, and high schools in their area, it is an unfortunate reality that “most bilingual schools are private schools, so affordability is out of reach for the typical working-class Latinx family,” Zambrana explains. “As a country, we have to do better to provide equal schooling to all children regardless of their family circumstances.”
As multicultural as the United States may be, the nation is decidedly behind much of the world when it comes to dual language learning. The Pew Research Center reports that only 20 percent of American primary and secondary school pupils even learn a foreign language, as compared to 100 percent in countries such as Norway and France, 96 percent in Spain, and 82 percent in Germany—and of that 20 percent in the U.S., fluency levels in the second language remain much lower than for children elsewhere.
Yet, the benefits of bilingual learning are indisputable. As Dr. Palacios explains, they include nurturing “students who are prepared to work in a global society, who are able to think critically in various languages, and who from early childhood through to career pathways will have the support of a native/heritage language and support of learning a second language. Schools that support language and content learning also help to erase the stigma of being a second language learner, because in those settings, all students are second language learners.”
Indeed, as the country becomes more and more diverse, bilingual educational settings can not only offer all pupils the opportunity to develop their skills in a second language, while making a testament to the importance of multicultural understanding and learning overall, but they can also be a haven for those whose families are already speaking another language at home—to assist in the preservation of culture, where differences are celebrated rather than tucked away or assimilated. In the words of Zambrana, “As our country becomes increasingly culturally diversified, bilingual schools should become the norm, especially staffing these schools with teachers who look and speak like the students.”