Come se dice...

Working in the South Valley and growing up in the South Valley one of the things I've see the most is Spanish speaking children struggling to read and write in English when they are just starting off in an all English speaking classroom/school. Though its great for these students to learn both languages (it will only benefit
them in their future) Wolf expresses the idea that this is only an advantage "if" "the child learns each language well" (105). I have often heard it said that the best time to learn a language is between the ages of birth and 7 years old. So why is it bad for students to come into school with one language in hopes to learn and develop in another language?

The focus that Wolf has, when it comes to bilingual student is the "complex and sometime contentious issues involved in learning two languages, including children's self-esteem, their membership in a cultural community, their sense of perceived competence, and the cumulative effects of all this on reading." Growing up I never thought Spanish speaking students struggled with English, I was actually jealous of them for being able to speak in their native tongue as well as English, which I never had the opportunity of doing. It wasn't until I worked in a school highly dominated with ESL students that I show how difficult was for some of these students who were still not proficient in English and were following behind in their reading and writing scores.

One way to help bilingual students out, according to Wolf, is to have these students listen to English story books. Helps them connect familiar words and concepts.

Like I said, though I come from a Spanish speaking family, I was first thought English by my family, so I wouldn't struggle, or be "punished" for speaking my native tongue. So I am not aware of how hard it is growing up, trying to learn two languages. Is there any one out there that did go through this? And if so I would you mind sharing your experience because I very interested here anything you would like to share. Cause though this was a very interesting topic for me in Wolf's book, it was a very short section, and I felt it could had expanded more.