|
Bilingualism and policy Nicholas D. Molnar
I was puzzled by Jeff Zorn's article "No on 227: Anti-bilingual measure promises bureaucratic chaos" (Opinion Page, April 26). He appears to be aghast that Chinese-, Farsi-, Russian- or Spanish-speaking children might be "tossed" together in a future English class coming from different cultures and language groups. Perhaps Zorn is familiar with the foreign student English program of the University of California. My English was very very limited when I was admitted to the Berkeley campus in 1958. Before I was allowed to take regular classes, I had to enroll in this program for a semester. I was "tossed together" with 20 others - Arabs, South Americans, Italians, Dutch, etc. - all struggling with the language of their adopted country. The professor was from England and spoke no other language besides English. Surprise! By the summer of 1958 we all spoke acceptable English, and in September I was able to take upper-division courses: constitutional law, U.S. economic history, commonwealth studies among others. My experience proved that this method does make sense and works. Certainly one also has to work and study. |