Colin
Posting #4
Topic: education
Publication:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/puerto-rico-governor-fortuno-bilingual_n_1501225.html?ref=education&ir=Education
This article is about a push in
Puerto Rico to become bilingual. This effort is a part of the governor’s wishes
for Puerto Rico to become the USA’s 51st state. The territory is
hesitant to embrace English, as it has spoken primarily Spanish until now. They
are quick to note, however, that they do not intend to leave Spanish in favor
of English. Not all classes will be taught in English, though bilingual classes
will be receiving more funding. Puerto Rico is currently behind Europe in
secondary-language skills, according to a European study. There is some
resistance to this though, as English is associated with political motives. It
is also rather impractical, because English is hard to learn. Thus, it would
require heavy teacher and parent involvement to be successful, which is
unlikely. Puerto Rico lacks good English teachers as well, further hindering
this. The project is expected to cost $15 million.
Puerto Rican citizens speak mostly Spanish but want to make a change to a bilingual country. The governor of Puerto Rico wants Puerto Rico to become the USA's 51st state. The country doesn't want English to become the primary language, but rather to have an equal number of Spanish and English speakers. English is very difficult to learn so a push towards a bilingual country would likely cost a lot of money and require heavy teacher involvement to produce results. The Puerto Rican government lacks good English teachers and has a budget of $15 million so this project will likely take a long time to complete.
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