Being bilingual is a great opportunity to have a wide experience between two different culture and being more acceptive. My mother language is Korean and English is my second language, on top of that I can also speak Japanese and Chinese although not as fluent as English. But being able to speak more than one language is the greatest opportunity for myself to expand knowledge and strongly believe it is an advantage when it comes to finding jobs. I've always believed that learning second language in high school is the most beautiful thing ever because it allows students to learn another language not having to travel places.
The article that I've attached 'Classrooms blazing the trail in NSW for bilingual education' explains that the primary school is making students to learn foreign language as it says "At Campsie Public, Mr Irvine is passionate about the benefits of language education....I'm of a view that to be well educated you should have some exposure to language." I also agree that learning different language allows students to have deeper understanding of different culture. However, the most important thing is, it will decrease racism at school because if you are familiar with foreign language it will allow you to have broader and wider understanding of that culture. Nowadays, although it's not as serious as in the past but many students are still suffering from racism. I also too have suffered from racism in high school simply because I was Asian and I looked different to other students. But surprising fact was, aussie students in Japanese classes were not as racist as other aussie students. Japanese class was very intimate and the teacher taught us on Asian background, literature and culture so this allowed students to accept Asian culture as one of their interesting culture.
Furthermore, learning new language is not easy but learning in Kindergarten is the best period time to learn new information because their brain works faster. As it says "The research found almost 75 per cent of parents agreed the programs had been a success and about three-quarters indicated their children were ''engaged'' with the programs" It is a successful program for little kids to engage with different language. It is absolutely agreeable because I have few Asian friends who moved to Australia when they were 5 years old and their English is as perfect as the native speakers. On the other hand, friends who came after middle school are having the most hardest time to speak English fluently as their brain is not functioning as fast as younger students. Looking at the two different friends I've made a resolution that when I get kids later in the future I will definitely let them learn not only language but any other musical instruments when they are young so that they can learn faster.
I am actually loving the educational schooling system in Australia because it is so diverse and giving opportunities to students to learn variety of subjects. If learning language will decrease racism I think it should be a compulsory subject to learn all the way through high school. Learning language is described in the article as ''It opens your eyes up to the world and what it is to be a world citizen,'' - world citizen? I guess it means the world will be many culture but one citizen which creates unity and we will be unified therefore discrimination or racism will no longer be an issue.
References
McNeilage.A (2013) Classroom blazing the trail in NSW for bilingual education. Sydney morning herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/classrooms-blazing-the-trail-in-nsw-for-bilingual-education-20130908-2te22.html
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?
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