One of the biggest challenges for immigrants is keeping their native language growing and alive, said Alicia Miguel, Director for ESL in the Kansas City School District.

�It�s almost a crime that kids growing up bilingual tend to lose their native language as they become more proficient in English,� she said �The student�s proficiency in English is important, but keeping that first language alive should be a goal also.�

Miguel has encountered many myths surrounding the acquisition of a second language. Among them:

• Learning two languages confuses a child and lowers his intelligence. That�s something parents sometimes believe, but the truth is that they�re not going to get confused � we just think so. When you�re an adult it�s so much harder, but the truth is, it develops cognitive abilities that would not be developed otherwise.
• �A child should learn one language properly first, then you can start teaching the other. When my child was born, I chose to practice what I preach; I speak only Spanish within the home. He is totally bilingual. He talks to me in Spanish, then he turns his head and speaks to his father in English. Sometimes he turns to me and asks, How do you say this in English?
• A child who learns two languages won�t feel at home in either of them; he will feel caught between two cultures. We have to understand that when you are learning a language, you are learning a culture. We talk about being bicultural, bilingual, bilateral. It�s not enough to be able to speak another language; you have to be able to read and write, and you have to learn how to do what is culturally appropriate.
• Bilinguals have to translate from the weaker language to the stronger one. (Not true)
• Children who grow up bilingual will be good translators. That�s like saying if you have good healthy habits, you will be a doctor
• Real bilinguals never mix their languages. We cater to who we are speaking to; if I�m speaking with a friend who is bilingual, and I�m talking about education, it�s often a lot easier to throw in the English term rather than trying to explain the concept in Spanish.
• Bilinguals have a split personality. It is true that you may act differently depending on which language you are using, but that has more to do with the situation than it does with the language. You may get a little louder, you may hug a little more � but that has more to do with the culture than the language.
• Bilingualism is a charming exception, but monolingualism is the rule. That may be true in the United States, but in most of the world people speak two or more languages. We�re trying to stop calling it ESL, in fact, because for many of our students, English is a third or a fourth or a fifth language. It may be charming, but it�s certainly not the exception.
• Be very careful � if you don�t follow the rules exactly, your children may never be able to manage both languages. In fact, each family has to learn its own way. No two people learn in exactly the same way.
• If they don�t learn by a certain age, they will never learn. (not true)

Many people say bilingual kids are more intelligent. Their words do not depend as much on an object; they know that an object has more than one word. They have a character advantage; they have increased self-esteem, and they have more ease in learning a third language.

Selene Torres, teacher

I�ve been teaching for five years. I started teaching ESL at the basic level in Mexico, but I felt there is something missing here. I need to know the culture that I am teaching. Culture is very, very important. I studied in Colina State, that�s where the big earthquake hit a few years ago. I graduated from college and I went to Minnesota for one year, not as a teacher but as a student. I worked as a teaching assistant for a fourth-grade teacher. There were 120 kids and just one Mexican, so I had to work hard. I said, I can handle it if the fourth-graders can handle it.

I was a member of the folklorico ballet, and I taught folklorico dance and made pi�atas and taught all of the traditions and celebrations. It was so fun for the kids. They said, It�s so fun to learn Spanish!