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Bilingual education is a practice of simultaneously teaching two different languages.
One can learn the international or local language. Bilingual education enables students to gain more knowledge and easily interact with other communities.
It will be fair to them if the class of people speaks two different languages. Some advantages of bilingual education are;
1. It is easy to learn: Learning two languages makes it even easier. Students get more knowledge and can easily understand the subject.
2. Brings diversity: Learning two languages makes people interact freely at a younger age as they cannot be divided by language, especially if they are from a different community.
3. It provides a brighter future: Learning two different languages makes students very bright even in the future. When the student visits a different place he or she can associate well with people in that area since he or she has a good understanding of the language they speak outside there.
4. It improves working memory: Teaching more than two languages makes students have a good memory. Students will understand concepts more when taught in a second language.
5. It encourages wisdom: Learning two different languages at a go sharpens students from an early age. The student will come to know of so many things which a student learning only one language does not know or understand.
6. Job opportunities: A student who has been taught two different languages has a high chance of getting employed. They can be translators or teachers in the future.
7. It provides a way to learn more: Learning two languages equips students with more knowledge. Some students will want to know the culture and social activities of other communities.
8. Encourages peace: Learning two different languages makes the students get to know the other languages more. Therefore, they can freely interact with the people of the other community thus promoting peace and harmony within the community.
9. It is fun: Learning two languages is fun. One gets to know some of the things they did not know about like the origin of the people, their culture, and more information about them.
10. Encourages teamwork: Learning two languages can encourage teamwork. If given a task concerning a different language, students tend to find someone from that community to help in carrying out the task.
Some of the disadvantages of bilingual education are;
1. Difficult to learn a new language: Some students only understand the first languages which are spoken by the parents thus, when introduced to bilingual education will find it hard to understand the new language being taught.
2. Expensive: Most of the teachers that are hired to teach are mainly from outside the country. Students will have to pay more for the teacher’s accommodation, foodstuffs, and all expenses.
3. Limit student’s involvement in local culture: Bilingual educations limit the students to interact and learn more about their own cultural life. If students have more interest in a new language, they will not learn the local culture.
4. Change student’s attention: Bilingual education may make some students lose attention on one of the languages and concentrate more on the other. This may not be good in terms of their local culture.
5. Lack of qualified teachers: Learning a different language from the community may need them to find a teacher who well understands the other language. This can be more difficult to find especially where there live people speaking one language.
6. Cause stigma: Some people may find it as a shame or dishonor when they are taught of the other especially if it has a bad if it had a bad origin, therefore, students will try to avoid it.
7. Encourage rejection: Some students when taught the other language can develop a bad attitude towards the language and therefore they will not want to be involved with people who speak that language, therefore, the students will feel rejected.
8. Hard to understand: Some students are slow learners and therefore they may find it hard to understand the new language. Some students may miss concepts taught in a new language.
9. Time wastage: Sometimes teaching two languages can simply be a waste of time for students. Some students may not find any importance in learning the other language thus most can fail to show up.
10. It may reflect a bad picture to the community: Some of the communities might be having a bad origin such as maybe some were immigrants or refugees and therefore learning their language can make them offended.