How Dual Language Education Benefits Society

Dual language education benefits society in numerous ways and is a transformative tool in the lives of children, youth and the community, states an article on the advantages of dual language education. Research shows that dual language learning is a big benefit for societies, economies, communities, parents, and students, of course. In essence, bi- or multilingual students are more at ease connecting with other ethno-cultural groups, which is needed more than ever in this country.

The same article shows how in demand bilingual individuals are when it quoted a statistic indicating that 12,000 jobs posted on the employment website, Indeed, had the word “bilingual” in it.

Along with dual language education benefiting society, as a whole, it also benefits the school itself, spreading outward from there. For instance, a white paper titled “Benefits of Dual Language Education” states that parent involvement programs, like the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), increase community involvement and create lots of opportunities where individuals of different ethnicities can interact. In many monolingual schools, on the other hand, Hispanic and other minority parents often won’t attend because of the language barrier.

A booklet from a Texas school district quotes an individual when he says that the ability to communicate in another language adds the extra bonus of being able to consider situations and think from a different perspective. In this country, we can see that, when one race focuses too much on itself, society loses in too many ways to count.

One fantastic way that schools are helping to pave the way for Dual Language Learners (DLLs) to make big contributions in society is by first reaching out and utilizing family literacy programs such as The Latino Family Literacy Project. One of its primary programs is guiding teachers in educating parents on the advantages of an at-home regular reading routine using bilingual books. This not only helps students in reading, vocabulary and overall English, it usually helps the parents too. Teachers can attend a half day program training at a workshop near them or view an online webinar for program training.