t, this approach suggests that the bilingual teacher must first understand these issues in himself or herself, “Most bilingual teachers were not educate in bilingual programs, nor have they had the experience of teaching in bilingual schools that receive full societal support. In many instances they themselves have been victims of language oppression and racism; thus, in order to empower their students to overcome conditions of domination and oppression, they must first be empowered themselves,” (Flor Ada, 1986: 386).
The traditional opposition to bilingualism is that when a student achieves a high degree of skill in the second language, it comes at the expense of losing proficiency in the primary language. This is known as the subtractive model of bilingual education but Flor Ada argues for the additive bilingualism model which argues that a second language can be acquired while the student still continues to develop and maintain his or her primary language. Flor Ada believes a major bonus of bilingualism is obvious, but needs to be restated, “the knowledge of two languages…there is a bitter irony in the fact that an English-speaking student may earn college credit for learning to speak another language, while a language minority child is encouraged not to use, and therefore lose, the same skill. In addition to preserving a valuable skill, encouraging the maintenance and development of the home language can foster a bilingual student’s identity and self-esteem, which tend to correlate with academic success,” (Flor Ada, 1986: 387).
The approach by Flor Ada is unique, because, by focusing on the teacher coming to terms with their own social, political and interpersonal issues where bilingualism is concerned, they will be able to engage in transformative education with students who are more than likely experiencing those issues of their own. This allows for the institution to provide for the child an assessment a...