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The fact that you are against this new initiative out of fear that it will affect your children’s education shows how involved you are with them, and as the head teacher of this high school I am very happy about that. We value a lot and consider indispensable the support from families towards our students. This is why we need a little bit of effort from your side to try and understand a bit more about bilingual education. You should know that your rejection comes from misinformation and that it is quite common. I wanted to do a little more research with you on the subject so that you can gradually become more confortable with the initiative and give your children the support they need.

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Common misconceptions about bilingual education

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Common misconceptions about bilingual education

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We need to bear in mind that nowadays, far from being in the information are, we find ourselves in the disinformation age. There is so much information about every topic that you could imagine going around and we need to keep a critical eye. Regarding bilingual education, there are some misconceptions that may be affecting the way you perceive it. Let’s review some of them:

1- “Bilingual education does stop the learning of the first language”. Dear parents, I am aware that many of you fear that this is true. I have to tell you that our approach on bilingual education involves something called “additive bilingualism”. This means that the student’s first language continues to develop while learning a second language. You don’t need to worry about this.

2- “Dropout rates for students demonstrate the failure of bilingual education”. The truth is, there is no evidence that bilingual education results in higher dropout rates. There are some external factors influencing this and when they are controlled, dropout rates of bilingual education get similar to other kinds of programes.

3- “Research is inconclusive on the benefits of bilingual education”. Research is in fact conclusive on this and later on we will go through some of the main advantages that this type of education offers.

4- “The best way to learn about a language is through total inmersion”. There are actually many different varieties of bilingual education that are beneficial for learning about a language. It is true that inmersión education might be a better option and more achievable for students, but it does not need to be total, it could be partial. Learning a new language is not going to be at the expense of their native one.

5- “Children learning English should have at least half of the classes in English, at the expense of their first language”. As I said before, we will not neglect the learning of Spanish language.

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Main advantages of bilingual education in Spain

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Main advantages of bilingual education in Spain

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Bilingual education will provide many advantages to your children. These four are considered the main ones:

1- Receiving a bilingual education expands job prospects as children become more qualified for today’s globalized world. More and more people are emigrating to work abroad and having a second language is practically indispensable. In addition, even if your children’s intentions are to stay in Spain, they will rarely not demand a second language for work.

2- Receiving a bilingual education makes the learning of other languages easier for the students, as they have previously experienced bilingualism cognitive abilities enhancement because of this. As in the previous point was mentioned, we live in a globalized world were languages are never a hindrance.

3- Children that has received a bilingual education has improved communication skills, higher self-esteem and more independence.

4- Not only language is important but culture! By receiving a bilingual education, your child not only will acquire language notions but also cultural ones. An enhanced understanding of foreign language will be produced, leading to more tolerant and open-minded views. A language can not be separated from its culture. Again, as we are in a globalized world, this is benefitial for the development of your child.

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Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

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Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

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We would be implementing this approach for bilingual education in our high school. CLIL is an innovative system that consists of teaching regular content in a foreign language. In our case, English.

A significant amount of research has proven CLIL as an effective educational approach. CLIL promotes active language usage in an authentic context. English is going to be our vehicular language to teach the contents, thus combining the development of linguistic skills with content knowledge instruction.

I want to revise with you some of the advantages that this approach offers:

1- As students are expected to study and communicate in another language, linguistic competence in the foreign language is enhanced.

2- There is a natural development of language skills as there is an inmersive environment in the foreign language.

3- If properly applied, there is an increase in the motivation of students as they are able to see that what they are learning has a real use in a real context. Sometimes this is what traditional methods for learning a foreign language lack: a context.

4- Your child will experience cognitive benefits as this approach stimulates cognitive flexibility and critical thinking skills.

5- As mentioned before, the cultural awareness competence will be enhanced. Something extremely necessary in the globalized world where we live.

6- Related to point 3, students will experience a real-life language use. They give meaning to what they are studying.

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Finally, I would like to emphasize how important it is for children to be supported by their parents in what they do. You are their main reference in their early stages of life and you have the power to influence their thoughts and the decisions they make. Your attitude towards bilingual education can affect theirs.

It can be difficult to trust at first. I am committed to having monthly meetings with you to inform you in detail about the process and your child’s progress. But we need a vote of confidence.

Try to be supportive of your children and take an interest in what they are doing in class. Ask them questions, have conversations with them and let them tell you about their day.

With your help, we can make this work.