Are You Aware? If Language Was an American Dream

This is part III in our “The Latin Experience in the States” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here.

Many immigrants to the U.S. won’t have the same experiences I’ve had, because of how I came to the U.S. My intention was to study here and to go back home. But life always plays a different tune.

Growing up in a family that loved languages has been a blessing in my life. When I was a little girl, my dad invited people from all over the world to eat with us in our home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the age of 8, my dad asked me what language I wanted to learn. I loved Japanese culture, and there was a Japanese Buddhist temple right across from our house. I chose Japanese — an easy answer. I loved my 先生 (sensei = teacher), and my love for the culture and language grew. When I turned 11, I found out that my sensei was moving back to Japan. I was devastated! I was too young to understand that her time was over in Brazil, and she needed to go back home. I decided to quit.

A couple of years later, my dad gave me an ultimatum: It was time to choose another language to learn. He added, “This is going to be your future.” It is a must to know a second language in Brazil because Portuguese is not a well-known language around the world. All my friends and siblings were taking English as a second language, so I decided to follow. Little did I know I would end up living in the U.S. Four years later, I became an English teacher in Brazil, which helped me pay for many of my adventures and schooling.

During my teenage years, I had an opportunity to move to the U.S. to attend high school as an exchange student. It was 1996 — a year when Brazil had tremendous economic growth, making it financially possible for me to attend school in the U.S. This would be an excellent opportunity to improve my English skills and experience living abroad. It was not my first time in the U.S. — I had visited Florida and Utah before — but I had never been in a foreign country without my family.

My high school experience in New Mexico was full of ups and downs. Most students at my high school didn’t know a second language, which I thought was very odd. I didn’t speak Spanish at that time, but I could understand it, which helped me become close to some Mexican friends. High school in America was socially hard for me — in Brazil, everyone had been included in parties and activities, but it wasn’t that way in the U.S. My high school in the U.S. was divided into small groups: cowboys, white, Native Americans, nerds, etc. I never understood why. I learned the hard way when I tried to make friends with a girl in my American history class. It was a wake-up call. But I did make friends, and my host family was kind and caring. My time as an exchange student was terrific because of them and my friends from church.

After high school, I went back to Brazil. I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then considered pursuing college in the U.S. On the plus side, my sister was already there. I thought it would be an easier transition than my first time living in the States, because I knew the American way, I understood my place in American society, and I knew things would be different in Utah. As a matter of fact, I was 100% right.

Utah welcomed me with open arms. I attended LDS Business College, and I loved it. The classes were small and easy for me to adapt to after being away for a few years. My experience there was fantastic because I made friends with many Americans who knew a second language. It was a completely different scenario from the time I had in New Mexico, where many people didn’t know where Brazil was or know a second language. I fell in love with Utah. I wouldn’t have minded living there for the rest of my life. A few months into the school year, I met my husband on a blind date. He was from Utah, handsome, smart, spoke Portuguese, and loved my food. We married eight months after we met. I thought my dream of living in Utah for the rest of my life was coming true.

My teaching experience in the U.S. started in Salt Lake City at Challenger School when I became a preschool teacher. I had an opportunity to teach children from different parts of the world. Many were experiencing the American school system for the first time. I was chosen to be the one to support these children and help them acquire the new language. Challenger is a private school, and the system is different from many public schools in the U.S. Many foreign children learn a second language supported by Challenger’s framework.

Three years later, my husband graduated from school and was offered a position to work for the State Department as an IT specialist. This opportunity would take us around the world with our family. Even though I was sad to leave my beloved Utah, which had become my adopted home in the U.S., I was ready to experience the world. My father’s words came to mind every time I had to move to a new country: “This is going to be your future.”

Right before our family moved to Peru, I became an American citizen, and I knew that as an American overseas I would be representing our country and traditions. As an educator, I knew I could contribute with my knowledge of the American education system. I finished my bachelor’s degree in education and English overseas, through Grand Canyon University online, and I was also able to certify as a teacher, which allowed me to teach abroad.

After living in nine different countries around the world, my vision as an educator changed. It has been influenced by a variety of school systems across the globe. Each method has unique characteristics that move the learner toward language acquisition. From the UK system to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, I learned that language acquisition at a young age is essential in education. In the U.S., second language acquisition usually happens in high school, which is already too late for a student to become proficient. Speaking a second language in the U.S. has also become a political debate and a discriminatory weapon toward immigrants. Immigrants who speak a second language in public are often targeted and many times humiliated.

My experience in the U.S. has been very different from many immigrants. I came as an exchange student, went to college, married an American, became an American, and then went to live overseas representing the U.S. Many immigrants who arrive in the U.S. don’t speak the language fluently upon arrival. They have to learn from scratch — often while working long hours to support their families in numerous ways. Many immigrants have also set up residence without going through the appropriate legal channels and must always worry about law enforcement and what is going to become of their families.

According to the 2016 census, 22% of children in the U.S. (slightly more than 12 million kids total) speak a language other than English at home. This rate has risen 2%, by 1.2 million kids, in the last decade. At the state level, the percentage of kids who do not speak English at home varies widely, from a high of 44% in California to a low of 2% in West Virginia. And yet, bilingualism has become a political issue in many parts of the U.S. due to immigration.

In 2000, the state of Arizona introduced Proposition 203, which introduced the “English Only” program to all schools. All immersion programs were canceled.

In Sec. 1. Findings and Declarations
The People of Arizona find and declare:
1. The English language is the national public language of the United States of America and of the state of Arizona. It is spoken by the vast majority of Arizona residents, and is also the leading world language for science, technology, and international business, thereby being the language of economic opportunity; and
2. Immigrant parents are eager to have their children acquire a good knowledge of English, thereby allowing them to fully participate in the American Dream of economic and social advancement; and
3. The government and the public schools of Arizona have a moral obligation and a constitutional duty to provide all of Arizona’s children, regardless of their ethnicity or national origins, with the skills necessary to become productive members of our society. Of these skills, literacy in the English language is among the most important.
4. The public schools of Arizona currently do an inadequate job of educating immigrant children, wasting financial resources on costly experimental language programs whose failure over the past two decades is demonstrated by the current high drop-out rates and low English literacy levels of many immigrant children.
5. Young immigrant children can easily acquire full fluency in a new language, such as English, if they are heavily exposed to that language in the classroom at an early age.
6. Therefore it is resolved that: all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English as rapidly and effectively as possible.
7. Under circumstances in which portions of this statute are subject to conflicting interpretations, these Findings and Declarations shall be assumed to contain the governing intent of the statute.

In March, the House education committee in Arizona passed a bill that would allow voters to decide if they wanted to repeal or keep the English-only education law. That sounds like a good idea to me! After years of experiencing multilingualism in many parts of the world, I understand the importance of a second language. If the U.S. wants to be part of a global society, public schools will have to introduce and support more immersion programs. The U.S. already has a significant population of bilingual children; why not use it as an advantage?

This brings me to what is happening in Utah. About a decade ago, the state of Utah began implementing a phenomenal immersion program. I had an opportunity to attend a presentation by Hurricane Elementary School a few years ago. It was a Spanish dual language immersion program, and I was amazed at how well these elementary students spoke a second language. Utah hired native speakers from many parts of Latin America (and other parts of the world) to come to Utah to teach. Each class had two teachers; one teacher taught language arts, social studies, and science in English; the other taught Spanish and math. The state of Utah has Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish as options in its immersion program. After experiencing a range of curriculums, languages, cultures, and people overseas, I felt at home attending this class presentation. I applaud the state of Utah for taking the initiative to start this program, giving these children a broader knowledge of the world while enhancing their cognitive skills and love for other cultures and people.

When children are exposed to a new language at a very young age, they develop greater cognitive flexibility. In the book “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child,” the authors emphasize that children are more receptive to language learning during childhood. Voila! My father was right all along! I decided my children would learn and experience a new language every time we moved. Many expats prefer to live in a bubble while overseas. I decided to allow my kids to live like locals and play with local kids. After almost 19 years overseas, my kids have been exposed to eight languages. My oldest speaks three languages fluently. My second is following my passion for languages — at the moment, she knows six languages (she speaks four fluently and can get by with the others).

I thank my father for instilling in me his love for language, culture, and people. I believe that as we start to learn different languages, we can break the barriers of prejudice and bias. Through language, we can understand cultures, traditions, music, and people. During my years of living abroad and experiencing what language can bring, I understand its benefits to the American people. If this is the American dream, I am all for it!