Seal of Biliteracy Irondale High School does not currently have seals of biliteracy to put on student’s diplomas. As of May 16th, 2014, Minnesota became a state that adopted the award, allowing all schools to benefit from the option of having students receive a gold or platinum seal. To qualify for a seal a student needs to be in grades 10-12 and show at least intermediate-low proficiency in a language besides English. According to seal of biliteracy.org, “The Seal of Biliteracy was designed to be awarded by school districts; however, an individual school site or school program may also decide to implement the award.” Irondale High School should apply the award because it will be advantageous to the students, promote Irondale as a leading
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Granting an award for the hard work and dedication they put in would inspire more students to participate and stay with their second language. Permitting a seal, would also be valuable for students who learned (or are learning) English as their second language. An English as a second language teacher at Spring Lake Park High School, Matthew Edmonds, claims, “For kids in ESL, it can be extremely difficult to compete with their peers who are native English speakers. They have to go the extra mile to maintain good grades and receive high test scores, because all of their classes are taught in English.” It is important schools recognize the value of ESL students, their talents and diversity, and reward them for their remarkable ability to succeed through a second language. Our school should do everything in its power to make sure all students are prepared for life outside of high school. Having a bilingual seal on one’s diploma is a way to advertise a student’s intelligence (knowing multiple languages improves memory and attention spans) as well as their work ethic. It is extremely useful to show of this …show more content…
Language opens up a door to new cultures, people, and places. A bilingual seal of fluency makes high schoolers more noticeable to colleges. The seal is not going to be the deciding factor for colleges, but it does help students be noticed faster and already sets a good first impression when looking at the transcript. States that have approved the seal are also the states with the greatest school and education systems. Because only 16 out of the 50 states have recognized it so far, Irondale should take advantage of the fact we have the ability to put it on our student’s diplomas. Hope Sweeney, a language teacher at Irondale, sees the value in having seals of biliteracy. She says that the other language teachers and her agree that having a seal of biliteracy to put on students diplomas would be advantageous. I asked her if it is something she would consider to bring up to other teachers and administrators, to which she replied, “Yes, I plan on doing that next week.” Minneapolis Public Schools had the first students to receive the bilingual seal in 2015. By having this seal on one’s diploma it can save them a lot of money. “College credits are applicable to Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) for students who demonstrate high-functional abilities in listening, speaking, reading and writing in world languages in addition to English,”
Granting an award for the hard work and dedication they put in would inspire more students to participate and stay with their second language. Permitting a seal, would also be valuable for students who learned (or are learning) English as their second language. An English as a second language teacher at Spring Lake Park High School, Matthew Edmonds, claims, “For kids in ESL, it can be extremely difficult to compete with their peers who are native English speakers. They have to go the extra mile to maintain good grades and receive high test scores, because all of their classes are taught in English.” It is important schools recognize the value of ESL students, their talents and diversity, and reward them for their remarkable ability to succeed through a second language. Our school should do everything in its power to make sure all students are prepared for life outside of high school. Having a bilingual seal on one’s diploma is a way to advertise a student’s intelligence (knowing multiple languages improves memory and attention spans) as well as their work ethic. It is extremely useful to show of this …show more content…
Language opens up a door to new cultures, people, and places. A bilingual seal of fluency makes high schoolers more noticeable to colleges. The seal is not going to be the deciding factor for colleges, but it does help students be noticed faster and already sets a good first impression when looking at the transcript. States that have approved the seal are also the states with the greatest school and education systems. Because only 16 out of the 50 states have recognized it so far, Irondale should take advantage of the fact we have the ability to put it on our student’s diplomas. Hope Sweeney, a language teacher at Irondale, sees the value in having seals of biliteracy. She says that the other language teachers and her agree that having a seal of biliteracy to put on students diplomas would be advantageous. I asked her if it is something she would consider to bring up to other teachers and administrators, to which she replied, “Yes, I plan on doing that next week.” Minneapolis Public Schools had the first students to receive the bilingual seal in 2015. By having this seal on one’s diploma it can save them a lot of money. “College credits are applicable to Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) for students who demonstrate high-functional abilities in listening, speaking, reading and writing in world languages in addition to English,”