Denielle Alexander

What are the possible of advantages of Mexican immigrant children learning English?

My five year old brother Joseph is what drew my curiosity of Hispanic children and the benefits of learning English as a second language. Even though Joseph is an African American kid and a native English speaker, he is surrounded in class by a majority of Hispanic children who speak Spanish as their first language. Both of these ethnic groups of children teach each other their native tongue and to be more proficient in learning to be bilingual. Joseph’s current experience parallels to this course in the subject of Mexican immigrants and their assimilation into the dominant culture and learning the language.

While conducting my research on Mexican immigrants, I had a specific question that I wanted to understand. The majority of my findings came from articles who interviewed Mexican immigrant families and their children’s assimilation in becoming bilingual. While reading the authors’ data, interviews and findings, I noticed that there is not an easy solution for adapting to the dominant culture. These immigrant children find themselves in situations where learning the English language can impose advantages and disadvantages upon their lives. This first research post will scratch the surface on: What are the possible of advantages of Mexican immigrant children learning English? I parallel my research findings to objective 2: To chart the dynamics, variations, and stages of the immigrant narrative. Hispanic immigrants learning English is a part of assimilating to the dominant culture and being able to communicate effectively in your surroundings. Language plays a significant role in getting adjusted to an immigrant’s new home. For the first generation of immigrants, being comfortable with the English language can help them effectively survive economically and socially and also provide a promising lifestyle for their future.

In reading Jo Worthy article, Como si le Falta un Brazo: Latino Immigrant Parents and the costs of Not Knowing English, her research examined the perspectives of Latino immigrant parents in Austin, Texas and how their children learning English had some type of effect in their social and personal lives. Some of the benefits that Worthy discussed were that these immigrant children can learn English at a rapid pace since they are very young. Also, they are fully submerged in English speaking settings majority of their day thus allowing ease of acquiring a second language. By the children learning English, it helps their families be able to survive in social settings setting such as work, non-Spanish neighborhoods, having a voice in America and being able to translate English to their parents simply for understanding.  Worthy noted that majority of all Mexican immigrants come to the United States because they want a life economically and a future for their children. Parents in the author’s research saw immediate benefits of their child learning English because it helps them with the day to day activities of living in a predominantly English speaking country. These children are able to help translate English to their elders and parents so they can also understand the language and be able to communicate effectively. In one of the author’s interviews “children who act as language brokers for their families, all of the students said they felt proud to be able to help their parents in important family matters” (pg.148) Worthy concluded that immigrant children learning English helps them in their life and help their families easily transition to the English language and most importantly assimilate into the dominant culture effectively.

Lisa Marie Dorner’s article also helps me to further understand Mexican immigrant children’s dual language and their family’s perspectives. Dorner's article, English and Spanish ‘para un futuro’ – or just English? Immigrant family perspectives on two-way immersion, shed light on some of the advantages of children’s learning English as a second language and she also conducted her research with interviews of the immigrant families and data findings. According to her data “Almost 25% of US students come from homes with at least one immigrant parent” (pg 303) Immigrant children mediate relationships between their families and social setting by being able to translate English to their Spanish family members. The author notes that the immigrant parents’ view of life, education, and economics are shaped by their children. Reason being, the children are able to communicate in English which gives them a understanding of the world around them. By having their children translate to the parents and elders, they are able to understand education and advance in future endeavors a little better than before. Social and cultural factors are influenced to these families. Since their children are learning English as a second language, their bilingual skills help their families assimilate to the dominant culture. Education is one of the key factors in making the socioculture evolution possible for these immigrants. It helps these immigrants emerge and understand social actions, and children soak up majority of these social events through daily settings, interactions, objects and environment than adults. Their knowledge of understanding can be translated back home which helps their families be able to shape their environment and understand it. Dorner seems to believe that the ability to communicate and understand can get you somewhat far and be able change the immigrant’s narrative over generations.

               Joseph’s bilingual experience is constantly teaching me something new. Most native English speakers take for granted what great lengths immigrants will endure to learn the English language. Joseph tells me, “It’s easier for the Spanish kids to learn English than it is for him to learn Spanish.”  I asked him, “why does he feel that way?” Even though Joseph is only five years old, he briefly said, “Well, they have to learn English Denny, and I learn Spanish for fun.” Even in an elementary state of mind he understands the importance of learning the dominant language when in a foreign country. Most ESL (English as a second language) schools in Texas try to incorporate a proper balance amongst the two languages. The schools want to prompt these children for success, and help them transition easily into other areas. Do these immigrant children feel that learning English can impose negative threats on their native history? Or does learning a second language breaks the communication with family members who only speak Spanish? I do not have the answers to these questions, but I will continue my research on dual languages and Mexican immigrant children.

Work Cited

Lliana Reyes, Patricia Azuara. "Emergent Biliteracy in Young Mexican Immigrant Children." Reading Research Quarterly 43.4 (2008): 374-98. MLA International. Web. 14 June 2010.

Worthy, Jo. "Como Si Le Falta Un Brazo: Latino Immigrant Parents and the Costs of Not Knowing English." Journal Of Latinos and Education 5.2 (2006): 139-54. MLA International. Web. 14 June 2010.

Dorner, Lisa Marie. "English and Spanish 'para Un Futuro' - or Just English? Immigrant Family Perspectives on Two-way Immersion." International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 13.3 (2010): 303-23. MLA International. Web. 14 June 2010.

"Assessment Results." Texas Education Agency. State Board of Education, May 2010. Web. 14 June 2010. <www.TEA.edu>.