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[00:00.92]In New York City public schools, 
[00:03.80]176 different languages are spoken 
[00:09.44]among the more than 1 million students.  
[00:13.80]For 160,000 children, 
[00:17.36]English is not their first language. 
[00:21.08]New York's Department of Education 
[00:23.68]makes learning better for these students 
[00:26.96]by providing dual-language programs. 
[00:31.40]Students are taught in two languages, 
[00:34.68]English and another one, like Russian or Chinese. 
[00:39.48]Math, social studies, science 
[00:42.60]and all other regular courses are taught in both languages. 
[00:48.48]And they learn about the culture of the other country.   
[00:53.68]Milady Baez is Deputy Chancellor of English Language Learners and Student Support. 
[01:01.48]She says these dual-language programs 
[01:05.36]will help children succeed in the future.  
[01:09.28]"The jobs of the future 
[01:11.08]require that our students know more than one language. 
[01:14.52]They are going to be traveling abroad, 
[01:16.60]they are going to be communicating with people from all over the world. 
[01:20.48]This will open doors for them."
[01:22.60]David A. Booty Middle School in Brooklyn 
[01:26.04]offers dual language education in four languages: 
[01:31.48]Russian, Mandarin, Spanish and Hebrew.  
[01:36.68]Shuya Zhang teaches a dual language class. 
[01:41.36]She says the program helps children get ready to work 
[01:46.08]with people in other countries. 
[01:49.16]"Look at now-a-days, America 
[01:51.32]started economic relationships with China.  
[01:55.16]Lots of factories have been built, companies moved to China.  
[02:00.88]They need people with the skills with both language skills 
[02:05.92]so the kids when they are grown up, they already have this skill."  
[02:10.48]Middle-schoolers might not have jobs on their minds yet. 
[02:15.64]For Kequing Jaing, she likes keeping up her first language, Mandarin.  
[02:21.64]"It makes me, like, feel that I am home because 
[02:26.40]I can speak in Chinese, learn in Chinese, 
[02:29.40]while learning in English. 
[02:31.72]So it makes me feel better 
[02:33.96]and makes me understand more about the task I'm learning."  
[02:37.72]Anastasia Hudikova came to the United States 
[02:41.75]when she was 2 years old. 
[02:44.52]She says the Russian-English program 
[02:48.08]keeps her connected to her heritage and her parents happy.  
[02:53.88]"They're really happy about the program that it exists. 
[02:57.43]They are really happy that I can preserve my culture and my language,  
[03:03.08]that I can speak it fluently in school."    
[03:10.84]The New York schools also offer dual-language programs 
[03:15.72]in seven other languages: 
[03:18.76]Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Spanish. 
[03:27.72]There are plans to add even more languages in the future.  
[03:33.28]While these dual-language programs are popular, 
[03:37.32]some groups in the U.S. say teaching English comes first. 
[03:43.16]U.S. English wants to make English the official language of the United States.  
[03:51.08]"We have no problem with folks speaking multiple languages ... 
[03:56.16]if people want to speak a different language at home," 
[03:59.92]says Todd DuBois with U.S. English.  
[04:04.12]"What we do think is schools should prioritize English."   
[04:10.28]He says studies show that 
[04:12.60]children who learn English early will be more successful later. 
[04:19.00]And, he says, focusing on English in the classroom 
[04:23.88]will help the students learn the language faster.  
[04:28.52]I'm Anne Ball.