I know that being bilingual seems like something super easy to achieve and that it’s all sunshine and rainbows. But it’s not. It’s hard. Here are some of the pros and cons of being in a dual immersion program.

Pros:

• You can speak in two languages, how cool is that?!? I mean, you can talk to all kinds of people and it’s VERY helpful being able to talk about sensitive topics without almost everyone knowing.  It doesn’t matter what language you talk in at your bilingual school, but it helps in public places.
• You get experience from all different kinds of culture. Having this bicultural benefit helps students, like me, open our eyes to the world around us. The people in TWIS (Two-Way Spanish Immersion) with me are some of the most honest and open people I know.
• There are communication pros. Like I said before, you can talk to all kinds of people, thus making YOU a well-rounded person. Given the fact that we are living in Southern California, there’s a very culturally diverse population. Being able to speak a common language, Spanish in my case, makes living here easier as I can communicate with almost everyone.
• Imagine this: You are the boss at a Starbucks in San Juan Capistrano and there are two people applying for the same job. They both have the same educational background and you just can’t choose who to pick, they both have great resumes! And, what’s this, oh my, that person speaks an additional language? They will be so much more included to pick the bilingual applicant.

Cons:

• Your grammar will never be right. No matter how good you might think you are in either language, your grammar will always be slightly off.
• In middle and high school, you have no elective choice. The school automatically places you in your immersion class and in order to have an extra elective (that you actually want), you have to take a zero period.
• At the start, you will be behind in English in elementary school. My school never even taught us English until third grade, so our grammar/vocabulary skills were behind.
• You have to start early. Because dual immersion requires being able to fluently write/speak in both languages, you can not randomly accept new people into your program. To join, you HAVE to have come from an immersion school or a family that speaks the language at home.

Overall, I enjoy being in an immersion program and recommend it. It’s been a great experience and I have learned so much that it’s crazy. Definitely consider putting your kid in dual immersion or just hanging out with people from these programs, we are really cool.