A skill, not a weakness
Opinion by Laurie Olsen and Shelly Spiegel Coleman/Los Angeles Times
Learning more than one language is a 21st century skill. It provides students with economic opportunities across the globe and at home. Many students enter our schools fluent in a language other than English. They speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Khmer and dozens of other languages important in international trade. They come with a resource. Ideally, these students — more than 1.5 million in California who enter school speaking a language other than English — would gain English proficiency while enhancing their home language skills. (more...)
Also: The Spanish road to English Opinion by Bruce Fuller/Los Angeles Times Quality counts Opinion by Alice Callaghan/Los Angeles Times