|
By Karyn Smoot
|
|
Apr. 27, 2009 |
|
For one minute, just forget every language you know except for English. You are now at the level of most Americans. How do you think you would fare in the global community? Now, are you more likely to vote to make English the U.S.’s official language?
In the documentary Speaking in Tongues, it is viewpoints like this,
along with those of non-English speakers, that local filmmakers Marcia
Jarmel and Ken Schneider weave into the stories of four San Francisco
students enrolled in bilingual education.
With a focus on the families of the four students, the film manages to
communicate the impact that expanding linguistic horizons has on youth
in a rapidly assimilating country. The filmmakers capture intimate
footage of the students — who themselves make up a cross-section of San
Francisco’s cultural and racial patchwork — experiencing the unique
opportunities provided by living within two cultures at once.
Durrell, a resident of public housing, delves into a new culture armed
with Mandarin skills; Kelly bonds with her Chinese-speaking grandmother
through the language that her parents have forgotten; Jason becomes the
first in his family to graduate from elementary school, reading and
writing both Spanish and English; Lowell’s own, junior Julian Enis,
takes his Chinese skills to Beijing and beyond.
What is most shocking about this movie is the stark contrast between
joyful, globally educated children and Middle-Americans pushing for
English as the country’s official language. This film stands to make it
all the clearer that bilingual education belongs in schools, both for
students to preserve their mother tongues and for others to adopt a new
one.
|
