Active Bilingualism

Active Bilingualism
Most people on earth want to speak more than one language – called English, French, Russian, or Mandarin, just to mention a few. Using another language can however reach, fromthe simple ability to pronounce a few phrases or words to the capability to write texts or maybe hold a conference in the second language. Everybody has experienced this; it is quite easy to developbasic passive bilingualism, to understand a few sentences, to pronounce a few words. What takes time is to become actively bilingual. So, the question is how to become actively bilingual at school?
Theanswer may not be in the books, the answer might be in the classroom and the environment outside the classroom. To begin with, the entire school surrounding has to be completely in the other language,English - in our case. Books, signs, advertising, publicity and videos in English are great because, they create motivation to understand plus, let´s remember that the books promote literacy. Themore we expose our students to the second language, the better for them. As bilingual teachers, we have the responsibility to promote among students the constant use of the language, whether is written,spoken, seen, read or listened to it. It is a must to integrate all learners into a whole communicative process, where the students become active learners. An active bilingualism environment can alsobe considered a bridge for all students to have access to and benefit from bilingual education and general education programs. Another plus is to promote cultural awareness of all kinds,geographically, musically, ethnically including customs, traditions and even folk tale readings. Our school always enhances and promotes different cultural activities like, Saint Valentine´s day, Saint Patrick´sday, Colombian - American Independence day, Children´s day, Eastern day, Halloween day, Thanks giving day, Christmas and many other academic activities like a Spelling Bee contest, in order to...