Students in Pasadena learn new languages at young age

Photo property of the Pasadena Sun

The Pasadena Sun reported today that about 450 students in the Pasadena Unified School District are enrolled in its language immersion program. At school, students spend 90 percent of their time learning in Spanish or English.

According to the report, Spanish immersion began at San Rafael earlier this month, while at Field Elementary School, Mandarin Chinese has been immersed in three kindergarten classes. The district may also create an Armenian immersion program, the report stated.

What Pasadena has done by instructing students in another language at a young age is an example schools everywhere else should follow. Studies have shown that the ability to communicate in multiple language is beneficial to individuals, and it is ridiculous that America’s education system has students begin learning a second language by the time they’re in high school. At that time, an adolescent’s accent is pretty much set, and it carries onto the new language they learn.

A few months ago I overheard an Indian adolescent telling a 13-year-old Texan about how in Brunei (where he lives), they’re required to start learning a second language when they’re in fourth grade. The girl only knew how to speak English, but she said she was going to start learning another language in high school.

Those most fluent in communicating in another tongue tend to have learned languages at a younger age, when their brains are still developing and have room to really learn how to properly speak and write in another language.

Kudos to the Pasadena Unified School District for implementing this program. Hopefully other districts will follow its lead.

Here is a link to the report: http://www.pasadenasun.com/news/pasadenasu-pasadena-schools-have-an-ear-for-languages-20120922,0,3770833.story

Nuevos Datos Revelados de Parte de la Oficina del Censo

El día jueves Febrero 17 de 2011 la Oficina del Censo de los Estados Unidos revelo nuevas estadísticas más detalladas a los gobernadores  del estado de Texas.  Los datos proporcionados dieron una primera mirada a temas como enumeración de la población en áreas pequeñas, raza, edad para votar y connotaciones sobre la poblacion de origen hispano en este estado.

Cifras para tener en cuenta  despues de estos resultados están resumidas en estos tres importantes puntos:

–  Las cifras revelaron que los cinco lugares más poblados en Texas en orden son: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin y por ultimo Fort Worth.

– La población Latina en este estado creció en un 41.8 por ciento entre el año 2000 y el 2010

– Entre el periodo de 2000 y 2010, La población Asiática fue la que presentó un mayor crecimiento  con un 71.5 por ciento en comparación a toda la población.

Para leer todo el comunicado de prensa  puede visitar la pagina oficial de la Oficina del Censo.

La Próxima semana la Oficina del Censo 2010 revelara los resultados de las ciudades de: Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Utah y Washington

Por ahora los dejo con un video hecho por la oficina Del Censo en Estados Unidos donde explican la importancia de saber el número de personas en cada estado y el valor de esta cifra en temas electorales.

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Agradecimiento especial a HispanicPRblog por su ayuda.

Paula Duran

Rise in number of “English Language Learners”

An interactive map on The New York Times site shows the number of “English Language Learners,” as they are dubbed by education officials, in the United States.  It’s a term used to describe non-native speaking students, such as international students or immigrants, who are learning our language.

Click the map to see how many non-native speakers learned English in 2007 (above photo courtesy of fhwa.dot.gov)

I expected to see the heavy concentrations in the west, but was surprised to find that certain counties throughout the southeast contained a higher percentage of English Language Learners,  as I never really thought of those areas as places immigrants would choose to settle.

Even though the map is several months old,  its worth taking a look at.  Be sure to mouse over on the California region- LA County has one of the highest percentages in the state.