The Struggles of a Bilingual Program (Dual and One-Way)

http://www.theyoungmommylife.com/2013/12/27/support-daughters-bilingual-education/

The article above did not catch me by surprise. In fact, I would like to use this article to talk about how common this may feel for many parents. Being in a bilingual classroom has many challenges everyone will face, including the students, parents, as well as teachers. It's as easy as 1-2-3 to be bilingual. Hard work and time commitment are necessary by all parties.

In the article, the mom was told to have her daughter have playdates and to request a tutor for her to be more successful in Spanish. Luckily, she is in a dual immersion program. In order for a program to be a "dual immersion program" the population of the students should be 50% native English speakers and 50% target language speakers. If the mom feels frustrated because she is not giving enough support in Spanish, chances are, there might be parents who feel the same but for English. Who knows? Parents can work together to find a time where the kids can interact with each parent at different times (but equal amount of times) to practice each language.

As for an one-way immersion program (population is not 50/50, but anyone can attend), the only time the target language is used, is mainly in school. It uses a slightly different approach where parents might still feel the same way, unfortunately. Because all students start learning the target language from the same point and all the support is coming from the school, there isn't much support outside of the classroom. This is something I am struggling with as the students might not use target language when having playdates.