The Overlooked Struggle of Bilingualism | Emilia Sanz Rios | TEDxPhillipsAcademyAndover

While there are many undeniable benefits to bilingualism, bilingual students face unique challenges as early learners with current standardization tests for learning disabilities and academic competence. In her talk, Emilia Sanz-Rios details these educational challenges, such as vocabulary acquisition, but goes on to argue for a more patient and attentive response to young bilingual students to ensure that their bilingualism is seen as a strength and not mistaken as an early learning disability. Emilia is a students at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, USA. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@natanaeldamian2192]

"young bilingual children invent their own words" relatable 😂😂. Some examples include baika, instead of bicicleta or bike, parqueadero instead of estacionamiento or parking lot, the list goes on.

[@ruthtorres8]

I went to see sweet Emilia present this topic at her school. She was amazing! I am so proof her . This topic is quite difficult to present, but she managed to capture the attention of the audience from start to finish. She was eloquent, confident and well prepared. Congratulations. This was a job well done!

[@alvarocamposrios3197]

AWESOME! I, as psychologist, confirm all her speech. Learning is the key of our evolution as human and as society, in other words, our mistakes and fails make us our best version of ourselves. I´m very proud of have a cousin with that outlook! KEEP GOING EMILIA, AND ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY!

[@alex28530]

Audrey sent this to me, congrats fam! I hadn’t thought much of the nuances of this topic but as another bilingual person growing up with 2 languages and messing both up to this day, I love the way you approached and explained bilingual children’s struggles. Thank you for making this!

[@martacampos9156]

What an awesome speech Emilia! Thank you for sharing this topic with all of us! I'm pretty sure thousands of kids and parents that are suffering the consequences of this issue must be right now as proud as I am of you.

[@asperbergers7136]

My grandmother spoke I believe 5 languages fluently. Teaching me words and phrases from all here and there.. until her dementia began to control her. Luckily I continued even after her passing, learning from whoever I could to attempt greater connections and bonds with more people everywhere. I dont consider myself fluent in the languages I've studied.. but life is a marathon, not a sprint. Moin! Mi nombre es Ragnar. Je viens de etats-unis. :)

[@pedrosanz-altamira8513]

It is necessary to make sure bilingual children are not over-diagnosed with learning disabilities. Recommending to stick to the school language and avoiding the home language is one of the worse things that can be done to a child: it will make the child lose a tremendous competitive advantage one day. Besides, most of those recommendations come from monolingual people.

[@saragustavsson836]

Not only loss of advantage in the future, but imagine caring for your child in a language that is not the language closest to your emotions? I think we focus too much on the academic aspects and not enough on the fact that the life of a child is so much more than school achievement.

[@karsten9895]

@@saragustavsson836 exactly. I want my son to be able to communicate in my native language German with his grandparents, uncles, his aunt and his cousins. I live in Peru. He hasn't seen them yet. My mother learns Spanish now. She just turned 80 yesterday, but that's not an option for everyone in the family. Family is a much more important factor for me to want to raise my son bilingual than school or the career he's gonna have like 20 or 25 years from now. Of course, I want him to succeed one day and to be able to win his daily bread on his own as a grown up, but I totally agree with you that there are more important things in life than career and academic achievements.

[@evisonliao8802]

I have seen bilingual people flourishing in the US society, immigrant Chinese, and other races. This is a special area of expertise and not every educator knows how to deal with this. There are successful parents documenting specific things to do and methods to teach. In the meantime, I can sense that the speaker may have a rough childhood, perhaps not because of bilingulism but of parenting methods.

[@jenniferdragon]

@@evisonliao8802 Agree! Most minimal, in her case, the parent should say Cookie in the 2 different languages on the spot. Some families, if capable, will have one parent says cookie and the other says 餅乾，one parent one language (OPOL) strategy.

[@evisonliao8802]

you are right @@jenniferdragon

[@spanishwithsimon]

I've brought up my son who was born in Spain to speak native speaker level English. I've written about the 5 key strategies that any parent can use(even non natives) to ensure their child speaks a second language from birth. THE 5 KEY STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL BILINGUAL FAMILIES by Simon Brampton.

[@MjfoleyAssocInc]

BRAVO! The topic: An interesting subject I have never thought about and never heard raised. The presentation: The material was very well researched and concisely written with important statistics to support the subject w/o any boring fluff. Very convincing and interesting. The presentation: Powerfully spoken with a strong and eloquent voice and stage presence. The speaker: Professional level talent indeed. Ms. Sanz Rios projects utter confidence in her work and speaking abilities, yet has a tender endearing side. That is a great combination that draws the listener in and wont let go. Well done my dear. I look forward to your next Tedx Talk!

[@noeliasierra1902]

Fantástica Emilia! Creo que el bilingüismo es un tesoro que hay que cuidar.

[@manuelrosal5690]

Tan joven y expresándose con tanta madurez, en la forma y en el fondo. Enhorabuena!

[@lolasevillano6517]

Impresiona ver a alguien tan joven hablando con tal claridad y expresividad. ¡Un talentazo! El contenido de la conferencia, muy interesante, muy bien elegido.

[@pepehl4154]

Congratulations Emilia! Very good!

[@doloresriosmoya7273]

Very interesting talk! You will get anything you propose!

[@luisc.6391]

Congratulations Emilia! Good job!

[@carolinesamoluk2300]

This is amazing. Truly well done!

[@AntonioDuro]

Muy interesante Emilia, enhorabuena. Además, manejas la situación superbien...mucha suerte. !!.

[@inigosanz3305]

Magnífica conferencia. Clara, precisa y muy amena. Además, la temática es muy oportuna, pues la globalización lleva a que cada vez haya más niños bilingues.

[@existentialpapaya6367]

Very insightful!

[@takumihiroshima4065]

I hated being dual nationalities because i never truly felt at home, my home language being French and Japanese was mostly avoided by my parents. It made me feel so out of place when someone asked me where i was from because i was always moving to countries not of my birth so i never once felt like i was truly French or truly Japanese especially looks-wise. Not knowing French and Japanese when i was little really hit me when other kids who knew French looked at me as if i was not normal for not knowing French. To any parents who are in billlingual relationship please teach your kids your native languages. I never once felt at home and often felt lost despite my young ages of 8-17. I didn't know where i belonged and i didn't have a strong national pride. Please parents teach your children your language even if they don't want to, it will benefit them so much more in the long run mentally and physically. Communication is a huge part of our daily lives never forget that.

[@erinmccaffrey9566]

Je suis très enthousiaste pour tu!! Très bien !!!!

[@LJ_adventure]

EMILIA THIS IS AMAZING

[@raquelsanzaltamira3757]

¡Impresionante Emilia! ¡Qué bien hablas! ¡Sigue así. Llegarás lejos!

[@raquelsanzaltamira3757]

It is great!

[@conchasuarez3740]

Bravo Emilia!!,👏👏 Un discurso muy interesante y muy brillante. En mi opinión lo has expuesto con mucha madurez y con las ideas muy claras. Todavia nos queda bastante por aprender de la importancia de la inmersión lingüística y de la riqueza cultural del bilingüismo en España. Así que gracias por compartirlo. Felicidades,guapa!!

[@mariah1659]

Bravo Emilia! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@marim4818]

Muy interesante. Enhorabuena. 👏👏👏

[@raquelhernandez1238]

Enhorabuena Emiliaa!

[@ineslazaro-carrascojulia359]

Such an interesting and inspiring ted talk! ♥️

[@Butterflylobsterclaw]

this is so important and amazing!!!! love you!!!!

[@sherezadezedira6767]

Cómo bilingüe arabe- francés y madre de hijos bilingües francés-español: me ha gustado mucho tu ponencia y cómo lo has hecho! Veo cosas reflejadas en mi hijo y ojalá los profesores tuviesen es sensibilidad para atender a cualquier diversidad sea la que sea 🙏 Tienes unas dotes oratorias que dejan pasmados a cualquiera: mi más sincera enhorabuena ☺️

[@Donello]

¿Tienes la posibilidad de enseñar el árabe a tus hijos? Al fin y al cabo, es más fácil adquirir una lengua románica partiendo de otra que adquirir el árabe en edad adulta, y de la escritura ni hablar.

[@evisonliao8802]

Interesting! Just find this video as I am implementing bilingualism to my baby son while there are many TEDx videos about benefits of bilingualism. But I have to say there is a languags PhD in youtube teaching her son bilingual langauges while documenting progress, I don't see any downfalls.

[@tjbriggs7304]

EMILIA SANZ RIOS YEEHAW GO OFF

[@migueh8493]

Genial, muy bien, Emilia.

[@xxyogixx7120]

I almost cried, you are so amazing!! Keep doing what you do!!

[@brooklynrenee8509]

SOOOOOOOO AMAZING, THATS MY GIRL, SO PROUD

[@irenehernandez5660]

Qué bien hablas! Vas a llegar muy lejos si sigues así

[@oggamerboy7516]

German sent me 👍nice

[@beatrizbecanpe5869]

Enhorabuena Emilia!!!! Ojalá yo fuera bilingue.

[@drewbaker5595]

Wow, thank you

[@Dave-py9re]

Throughout this presentation I thought she was going to come to the conclusion that monolingualism is preferred. I was so relieved in the end she advocated for bilingualism. I am an educator who works with an elementary bilingual program and I believe the evidence is clear bilingual education, people and students are better off than monolinguals. My heart broke a bit because what I inferred was she was telling her story of being identified as learning disabled as a young child based on assessments that were not “standardized” to her experience as a simultaneous bilingual. The sad reality is that many educators continue to view bilingual students through a monolingual lens. However, more stories like this will take los pasitos necesarios para cambiar la mentalidad de los de más. Ojalá que cambie la cultura a embrace bilingualism. My recommendation for this student is to look into language theories of Noam Chomsky and second language learning theory of Stephen Krashen and dual language research of Thomas and Collier.

[@MoonOvIce]

If I struggle having emigrated to the US at 13, left at 21 some 13 years ago and I still think mainly in English, while speaking Spanish every single day, I still sometimes struggle to "translate" thoughts I had in English, to my native Spanish. The pronunciation if fluent, but the "structure" of what I thought, was in English, so some things I express sound awkward in Spanish. Nowadays, I haven't spoken to a native English speaker in years, I'm also sure that would probably come out awkward in some way or another for a similar reason (I think in English, but I rarely get to speak it anymore).

[@elwerouno1]

RIOS#1 💪💪💪👌👌👌💯💯💯

[@neilshen759]

Ok Emilia I see you

[@aidenw6513]

Very cool thank you neil

[@benr2150]

@@aidenw6513 owo uwu Neil I see u

[@el_duck6577]

Neil Shen nice profile pick ;))

[@Sakurasan2023]

Great speech ❤

[@el_duck6577]

wow i agree.

[@SomeSchmidt]

I have seen some published research and current data that challenges a lot of what is said by the speaker. In Maryland and in California, students who are identified as bilingual and who have tested out of ESOL services, outperform monolingual students on state standardized tests.

[@SM-sg5eo]

This is amazing what?!

[@SM-sg5eo]

I've never thought about it before. I've always envied my bilingual friends. You are describing an example of whitewashing/colonization and it sucks that this is even a conversation we need to be having right now.

[@emiliasanz-rios736]

Thank you!!!

[@pkersoul]

the most frustrating thing is never being able to remember words in either language even though you know them

[@racerace3323]

Hi

[@el_duck6577]

for the 2 ppl that disliked the video, they have no taste in culture. learn another language.

[@hollo0o583]

I actually almost got diagnosed with Legastenie (German) (the one where you mix up the letters: p, b, d, q for example) I mainly got through it by writing and listening at the same time to cover up four the long time it took me to read or something (I was a third grader back then). How ever what ever language I'm learning, my orthography always sucks and it takes me a really long time to read out loud at a acceptable speed.

[@surajdudhe1086]

My beliefs go with this speaker and child should speak atleast basic mother toung Before going for other language.... But I don't want to go with my belief... So I am searching for answer

[@ditto5308]

yeet

[@kellyhorgan2926]

It's not true that kids are exposed to two languages growing up are academically handicapped through high school. They do tend to talk later, but once they talk they can speak both languages. Furthermore, this talk is completely contradictory...she is claiming that bilingual children are severely academically disadvantaged but also that it's critical to make sure that kids need to continue to have exposure to both. But then she claims that bilingual children "don't have a base language" and thus have to end up unable to speak either language fluently...that is simply false. Bilingual children are more likely than monolingual kids to be raised in poverty... that's why they are often behind their peers.

[@ru-eezahendricks1522]

I don't truly agree with her actually it seems like a very negatively biased argument to say that bilinguals are disavantaged mentally. I get that she's talking about the system and how it views bilinguals but some of the things she says such as, "in the same way...we will be less proficient that monolinguals in the other language" @5:06, aren't true at all. She also said before earlier in the video, that bilinguals learn slower that monolinguals. These facts are actually already proven and that bilingual people and children have advanced problem solving skills as well as better mathematic capabilities in school. The also have a more diverse social life having mixed friend groups and friends from each language as well as friends who are bilingual too. She says @ 2:30 that not having a base language becomes a huge impediment (blockage) in children developing language skills. However there are LOADS of studies that literally show the advancement of children who are bilingual compared to monolingual kids. I'm saying this because I am bilingual myself and I have bilingual friends and we've all excelled in school and our social lives even though we definitely went through some of the struggles she's talking about. It doesn't mean that is the crux of our lives. She shouldn't present bilingualism as such a negative thing or struggle. It's better to appreciate the gift than to live in the past struggle.

[@robertmartens7839]

What are we worried about? We are a bilingual family, go help someone else. This sounds like an American problem.

[@spexinthecorner]

I can easily speak read and write 4 different languages and I don't face any academic issues being multilingual. You might just be using being bilingual as a cover for being less intellectual.

[@nekominato1570]

Congratulations!

[@diglett4884]

Where's your Ted Talk Mr. Intellectual?