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Monday, October 17, 2011

Pierluisi Advocates for Bilingual Education

San Juan, Puerto Rico- Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi today emphasized the need for Puerto Rico’s educational system to improve English language instruction in Island schools in order to ensure that Puerto Rico’s youth can compete in a rapidly-globalizing world.

“A critical challenge that our Island faces in preparing students to participate in the global economy is to improve the quantity and quality of English language instruction in our schools. Our goal should not be that English replace Spanish, but rather that our students receive high quality instruction in both languages,” said the Resident Commissioner in remarks he delivered at the Puerto Rico Education Summit, which featured the participation of the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

Pierluisi underscored the fact that mastery of English can open many doors for Puerto Rico’s youth.

“Because of the important roles that Spanish and English play in the personal and professional lives of our people, Puerto Rico is uniquely positioned to be a national leader in the development of bilingual education programs. Our schools can serve as laboratories for dual language programs and other bilingual programs being used to address the needs of English language learners across the U.S.,” he said.

The Resident Commissioner recognized that the development of new bilingual programs will take time. But he noted that, in order to address Puerto Rico’s immediate needs, Island teachers should be given the opportunity to participate in exchanges with other school districts in the U.S.

“A teacher exchange program would provide substantial benefits to Puerto Rico’s teachers. For example, Puerto Rico’s English teachers would improve their English-language abilities and instructional techniques by spending a year in a native English-speaking state. Puerto Rico’s students would also benefit from an exchange by having the opportunity to be taught for a year by a native English-speaking teacher from the states,” said Pierluisi.

The Resident Commissioner introduced legislation this year that would authorize federal funds to be used to establish teacher exchanges. The bill is endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers, the National School Board Association, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and other respected organizations.

The legislation would give states, including Puerto Rico, and school districts the flexibility to use the federal funding they receive to support teacher exchanges with a state or school district from a different region of the United States.

Teacher exchanges provide participating teachers with the opportunity to learn new instructional techniques, to gain exposure to different learning cultures and student populations, and to impart the learning they acquire during the exchange onto other teachers in their home district once they return.