Knowing more than 1 language can pay off

YOUR SCHOOLS

Being able to switch with ease between English and another language takes years of dedicated work.

Starting with the Class of 2018, Ohio high schools have a new way to recognize graduating seniors who put in that time and effort. And it could give them a boost on the way to a job or admission to a university.

The Seal of Biliteracy would appear on the school transcripts of students who prove through testing that they can skillfully converse, read and write in both languages.

Modern languages, classical languages (Latin), Native American languages and American Sign Language all qualify. Students in traditional and charter schools, private schools and even home schools can try for it, as long as their school offers the Seal. The Ohio Department of Education does not require any district to participate.

The development is so new, however, that most districts in central Ohio say they haven't worked out the protocol or even decided whether to adopt the Biliteracy Seal.

For example, Licking Heights schools near Pataskala anticipate that next year a few students will try for the honor. A spokeswoman for Reynoldsburg schools says that the district is reviewing the Seal program to see whether it will work within the program of studies for next year. Dublin schools plans to award the Seal beginning this year, said a spokesman.

Columbus' North International High School will definitely bestow the honor, said Principal Kenny Lee, and some 12th-graders already have qualified based on Advanced Placement test scores from last year. At North, which houses grades seven through 12, all students study one or more world languages: French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Korean or Japanese.

He said the staff encourages students to play up their language skills in job interviews. They don't always realize the advantage it gives them.

"They think that being

bilingual or trilingual or speaking four, five or six languages is the norm," Lee said.

The Seal also can reward effort in the other direction: for kids who immigrate to the United States speaking a foreign language, but then catch up in English throughout their time in school.

In 2012, California was the first to introduce the Seal of Biliteracy and since then, 28 additional states and Washington, D.C. have adopted it, according to sealofbiliteracy. org.

Here in Ohio, the effort started in 2016 with Spanish teacher Martha Halemba in the Hudson City Schools in Summit County, after she heard the Seal was being awarded to deserving youngsters elsewhere.

"It just seems like the world is so much smaller now," Halemba said. "Students need another thing to give them an extra boost on their diplomas."

She mentioned a former Spanish student who now heads the Latin American market for jelly maker J.M. Smucker Co.

Halemba contacted state Reps. Sarah LaTourette,

R-Chesterland, and Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, about introducing legislation. She brought her advanced students studying French, German and Spanish to Columbus to testify before the Ohio House Education Committee. Gov. John Kasich signed the bill in late 2016.

While the Education Department was working out the details, Hudson High School ran something like a pilot program for the rest of the state, awarding certificates of biliteracy to fourth-year foreign-language students who were able to test at an "intermediate-high" level on a national test. It demonstrated for Halemba and state officials what students need to know to pass: probably at least five years of study or four years with an Advanced Placement course.

Finding an estimate of bilingualism in the United States is tricky. Francois Grosjean, an author and linguistic researcher from Switzerland, worked out from 2007 Census Bureau data that about 20 percent of Americans are bilingual.

By comparison, the European Commission reported in 2006 that 56 percent of EU residents could speak two or more languages.

As of 2016, more than 126,000 California graduates had earned the Seal, said Martha Hernandez, of Californians Together, an advocacy group that helped introduce the Seal.

Less than 20 years ago, in 1998, Californians passed Proposition 227, requiring English language learners to assimilate to regular classes only taught in English as quickly as possible. Then, a foreign language and culture was treated as a deficit, Hernandez said.

"The conversation has changed," she said. "It's an asset, really."

She mentioned the research showing cognitive benefits, the job opportunities and the national security benefits of having citizens who know key world languages.

"It's also about being able to live respectfully in this society, which is so important today," Hernandez said.