Bilingual Education is Student's Key to Language, Learning---and Future

I was so afraid, so lost! When my teacher talked, I thought I was deaf. When I looked at the books, I seemed to be blind . . .

The author of those words, 13-year-old Huy Bao Nguyen, could hear and see everything when he first came to America in December 1993.

The problem was the Vietnamese immigrant didn’t understand a thing.

Huy’s one-page account of his struggles recently gave him third place over 1,800 others in a national contest for bilingual students.

Huy was put in a regular, English-speaking-only class when he arrived in Orlando. Understanding didn’t come until weeks later when Huy was transferred to a bilingual program for Vietnamese at Hillcrest Elementary in downtown Orlando. Huy and many of his classmates came to America because of the aftermath of events 20 years ago today, when North Vietnamese forces overran Saigon and ended the Vietnam War.

The fifth-grader won a $1,000 scholarship from the National Bilingual Education Association in Washington for writing about why bilingual education is important to him.

Many children wrote about feeling shut out, said Jim Lyons, the group’s executive director.

“It’s an image that is terribly important for the public to understand,” Lyons said. “A child who feels closed off and is closed off is a child who’s not going to succeed.”

The group annually reads from the essays to lobby on Capitol Hill for federal funds for bilingual education.

In the United States, between 2.5 million and 3 million children are learning English as their second language. Of those, half are receiving no special instruction. The majority are in English-only classes.

The smallest group, in Lyons’ view, are the lucky ones, like Huy. They go to bilingual classes where a teacher uses their native language and English.

Opponents of bilingual education say their ancestors didn’t need bilingual education and question how districts can afford to give such special treatment. Those in favor view bilingual education as the key to helping children who remain behind in academics because their lack of English hides their strengths.

Opponents, Lyons says, have forgotten their history. Bilingual education existed in America until World War I, when xenophobia and laws removed such instruction. Most bilingual instruction before World War I was in German and English, but the U.S. conflict with Germany led to attacks on bilingual education. It didn’t return in most areas until 1968 when Congress approved a bilingual education act, which let schools apply for federal grants to start bilingual programs.

The bilingual education is like a bridge leading me to a new world.

So writes Huy. His teacher, Maria Hoang, switches frequently between Vietnamese and English. Students read only in English but stay connected to their culture, which they display through art for all of Hillcrest every year.

Hoang’s 19 students include one who immigrated here in the last three weeks and others who came two years ago. After three years in the program, they must enter English-only classes.

Hoang uses Vietnamese to help children understand nuances in meaning and concepts, not to make them more comfortable. Learning English won’t help if they don’t catch up to their grade level. Hoang constantly pushes her students, showing them what their future can be with a “Follow the Stars” bulletin board covered with academic honors of past students.

Huy’s story is similar to those of his classmates. His eldest sister and father fled Vietnam by boat seven years ago, promising to send for the family when they had the money. It was five years before Huy saw his father again.

Hillcrest faculty picked Huy for that school’s Disney Dreamer and Doer award because they think he showed particular courage. He joins in numerous school activities, works hard and smiles no matter how hard he struggles.

Huy doesn’t take the credit. He disliked school intensely in Vietnam. His Vietnamese teacher spanked him on the hand with a ruler because he wasn’t learning and played all the time.

“When we came here, my father said, ‘If you don’t learn, your future is very bad.’ “

Huy heard. He writes of a future filled with study.

Most important of all, I no longer feel frustrated, lonely, blind and deaf. My dream of becoming a scientist can come true.



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