Assimilation: The main goal of assimilation is for students to adapt to the new culture and language as soon as possible (Bennett, 2014). They want students to reach high levels of English proficiency by learning content and language rules through the second language. The first language and home culture are not important and forgotten in this situation, so students view their cultures as inferior to the American culture. Ex: ESL pull-out or English immersion programs (structured or sheltered).
Pluralism: The goal is for students to learn a new language on top of their native language (Bennett, 2014). They want students to eventually become bilingual and their home culture is highly valued so they maintain their customs and traditions (Bennett,
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When I think of my ELLs, I think of their cultures, their language, their customs, and their traditions. I think about how they are either going to lose their identities, build upon their current identities, or keep their identities but be suppressed and segregated by the rest of the world for the rest of their lives. This can negatively affect my students and their families depending on the instructional English models used at the school. For example, if a school uses English immersion programs where students lose their home language and culture to learn a new one, it might cause parents to become bothered. In order for parents and families to understand that we value them, they need to see that we care about their cultures and ethnicities, and suppressing them or ignoring them is not a good way of doing that. The goal in my classroom is to learn English as quickly as possible because the district says so. Therefore, I tell my parents to always allow their child to speak and read in Spanish when at home. I make it very clear that even though the school wants them to learn English, Spanish is just as