The revolutionary power of bilingualism | Karina Chapa | TEDxMcAllen

Karina Chapa speaks to the power of bilingualism and its ability to revolutionize education. In America, over 5 million students speak a language other than English at home, but regardless of the diversity of languages, only 20% of people are bilingual. Karina sheds light on the history of bilingualism in the United States and how we can move forward in today’s educational system.

[joeaverage]

Being able to speak two or more languages is one of the greatest gifts you'll ever enjoy in life.

[RobertoGarcia-nkof]

This was well put together in a time where bilingualism should NOT be put down because there is much more to it than just a "second language". Thank you, Karina.

[jonatasmendonca]

As a self-learner English speaker and native Brazilian Portuguese speaker I couldn't agree more with this lady: being multilingual is the key to revolution...

[fernandomarquez]

No sé en que idioma escribirte un mensaje, pero lo voy a hacer in Spanish porque vivo ahorita en Mexico (soy trilingue, hablo mi dialecto de mi pueblo, Spanish and English y estoy aprendiendo Francés), todo lo que comentas en tu video son 100% ciertos porque me paso lo mismo cuando estudiaba en EEUU (2018-2019) la diferencia es que no sabia nada de English y todos los dias tenia que ir a diferentes seminarios (soy investigador) y todo era: ENGLISH, ENGLISH, ENGLISH.... y muchas veces me puse a llorar porque no aprendia el idioma rapido y porque a veces tenia que hacer reportes de los seminarios, hoy en dia estoy por terminar mi doctorado en fisica y tambien apoyo a jovenes en la CDMX a aprender el ENGLISH porque no quiero que sufran y sobre todo porque quiero ver a mis mexicanos triunfando por el mundo, tengo club de conversacion y doy clases en mi humilde hogar, have a good one and God bless you always ... Best, Fernando

[deboranestal]

She is an enthusiastic bilingual professional. In her talk she showed us the importance of study languages and keep the proud of yours. She encourages us to be better and never give up. Thank You! Let's give her a clap! 👏 She rocks! 🤩

[imeldadelacruz]

Well done Karina. Lots of points that were covered here that need to be shared with many, but especially our bilingual community of educators. Such as, “violation of civil rights” for these students and families, “we need to sit at the same table to talk and discuss” and “we have weapons of mass construction” within our reach!

[victoriabrosch]

This is an awesome video with a very important message.
What is the most interesting about this to me as a foreigner is how the American education system views bilingualism. I’m from Germany and there we started learning a second language ( in my case English ) from 1st grade onward, then in 6th grade we had a choice between learning French or Latin ( other schools offer Spanish, Japanese or many others as well ) and then later on we again had sever chances to study different languages by the end of our “high school” time. I myself learned English, Latin, Italian and Spanish so far in school ( I am by no means fluent in all of them ) but still it was always viewed as a good thing to learn new languages and to be bilingual and it was also greatly encouraged so to see how different this subject is treated in other counties is very interesting to me ( I may have to add that I went to gymnasium in Germany which is the “highest” form of school after primary school, so i don’t know how this subject would be treated in other school types)

[larry]

I'm so proud of myself because now I can say that I have understood everything and it makes me feel so comfortable and confident with my life.
I'm glad to hear you.
Thanks a lot for this greatful speech

[deboraarianacorreadasilva]

Neat video. Definitely to be able to speak more language is powerful. I liked when she spoke about our native language and how it can help us in the process of learning a new language. I already had tutors that told me unlike that. Thanks for the video.

[SpaceN.i]

So good, I like it, this was a motivation than I needed! This is one of the best TED talk than I have seen.

[accent]

The main problem is we need the Spanish speaking certified teachers. A LOT of them. And second language education SUCKS in America and Canada. It is taught completely wrong. You need to learn to speak it BEFORE you focus on the grammar. The fact that we don't/wont try to fix this is insane. We will HAVE to be bilingual in the future to be successful in the business world. A person who is bilingual is many times more valuable as an employee than someone who is not.

[wahyudanuarta]

I love the way you presented the materials

[philipb]

Bilingualism once had been thought to handicap children. I have found in my travels that polyglots fared better in unusual circumstances where there was no common language.

Cheers!

[jeannettestuckelschwaiger]

It is handy to speak few différents languages. I used to work in à multinational entreprise and played golf with british scandinavian french people. One thing I found difficult at the beginning, was thé order of words in sentences. Hier, je suis allée à l'école. The dutch says: hier, suis je à l'école allée.😅 Gisteren, ben ik naar school gegaan.

[jimteofa]

Karina! Impresionante! Luchare contigo para el resto de mi vida para cambiar la mentalidad de "Engilsh only." Voy a compartir esto con mis estudiantes. Gracias. Jim

[athompsonbaker]

So this question probably needs more discussion and explanation but as an ESL teacher, who doesn't speak the students' languages, I try to find resources in the home language as much as I can and Google translate things (which isn't that great, I know) but what more can be done? I always try to ask kids how to say things in their first language, I hope it's enough. Any other suggestions? Thank you for a great talk!

[franciscojavierbenitosanti]

I love this video. Thanks for sharing us your investigation :)

[vuaeco]

The irony of the poster that says "This is America, speak in English" is that it should have said "This is America, speak in American". You see, America doesn't even have its own language and has to "borrow" (or should I say steal) a language from a country in Europe! Now the poster is saying to bilingual people who don't speak English that "This is America where we don't speak American but rather speak a language stolen from another country". What a ridiculous oxymoron!

[thespanishexperience]

I've brought up my son who was born in Spain to speak native speaker level English. I've written about the 5 key strategies that any parent can use(even non natives) to ensure their child speaks a second language from birth. THE 5 KEY STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL BILINGUAL FAMILIES by Simon Brampton. You'll avoid the one major mistake unsuccessful parents make. Also available in Spanish.

[jorgemartinmoguel]

I think in english now 😳 así como así…. Literal un día me desperté y mi mente se programó en inglés 😳