WAGOLL- ESSAY ON BILINGUAL EDUCATION (A.

argumentative)

Bilingual programmes have been steadily gaining ground in Spain and other European countries in
the last few years thanks to educational policies promoting the implementation of subjects such
as Science, Social Science, Music or Arts and Crafts, among others, being taught through the so-
called CLIL methodology. It is my contention that bilingual education should definitely be regarded
as an asset. 

On the plus side, those who support bilingual education point out that it is only natural that
children should be used to a plurilinguistic environment since this is the reality of citizens in the
European Union. This type of education will also boost their long-term chances of employability.
What is more, CLIL is ultimately aimed at developing students’ critical thinking skills. 

On the other side of the argument, many parents and educators openly voice their concerns that
it may undermine students’ communicative competence in their own mother tongue: they may
know keywords related to a subject in the language of instruction, but may not know them in their
first language. Another controversial issue is that of students with special educational needs:
many feel they somehow get left behind, which creates inequalities. That is why critics feel
bilingual education widens the gap between students, rather than bridge it. 

Personally, I would say the benefits of bilingual education outweigh its drawbacks. In my
experience, students’ communicative competence in both languages is clearly developed way
further than with previous methodologies. Consequently, I firmly believe that bilingual education is
well worth a chance.

WAGOLL- ESSAY ON BILINGUAL EDUCATION (B. discursive)

Bilingual education is a bit like Marmite: either you love it or hate it. And yet, politicians tend to
include it systematically as one of the main points in their manifestoes. This essay will discuss
briefly the upsides and downsides of bilingual programmes as they are being implemented in
Spain. 

When considering the positive aspects of bilingual education, several benefits come to mind:
needless to say, increasing students’ exposure to the foreign language will undoubtedly result in
improved reception as well as production skills. As a consequence of that, their brains will get
used to switching between languages more quickly. 

This contrasts with the view held by critics, who argue that CLIL poses a challenge which may
prove trying for students and teachers alike. The former need to make an extra effort to process
the information, and to be able to produce in the foreign language; the latter have to find different
ways of teaching, one that is more attuned to the needs of this particular context, which typically
forces them to step out of their comfort zone. 

As has been shown, there are no easy answers. Possibly, more time to reflect and resources
would be needed, both in terms of staff to reduce student ratio, and also to improve the quality of
teacher training. Having said so, bilingual education can arguably be said to propose a more
effective means of acquiring a second language than previous methodologies.

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