More South Florida Parents Choosing Bilingual Education for Their Children

More South Florida Parents Choosing Bilingual Education for Their Children

District Administration
The Magazine of School District Management
Sun-Sentinel.com
5/30/2008

Nine-year-old Bianca Herlory can strike up a conversation in French, Portuguese, Spanish or English, and recently expressed an interest in learning Mandarin.

"It's a gymnastic of the mind," said her mom, Stephanie Herlory, who introduced her daughter to foreign languages at a young age. "Once they're immersed, it comes very quickly."

As demands increase for a global work force, a growing number of South Florida parents are taking steps to make sure their children learn a second language. Many moms and dads have declared their homes "No English" zones. Some opt to send their kids to language immersion schools.

Bilingual parents are not the only ones driving the trend. Parents who speak only English are getting in on it as well.

John Melnick, of Pompano Beach, enrolled his sons, Daniel, 6, and Jonny, 4, in the Lycée Franco-Américain in Cooper City, a private, K-8 school that teaches all classes in French. His wife had done research on the school and liked the French system.

"I thought at first that there would be serious disadvantages to putting my children into a school where they speak in another language," Melnick said. "I'm getting quite an education."