World Languages and the Community
The 2010 U.S. Census showed over 20% of Rhode Islanders spoke a language other than English at home, the most prevalent languages being Spanish or Spanish Creole (109,008), Portuguese or Portuguese Creole (31,006), French or French Creole (19,229), Chinese (6,960), Italian (6,354), and Khmer (3,721). Therefore, it is easy to assume there is a need to supply heritage speakers and their children with a more efficient method of teaching English and their native language. Dual language immersion would encourage heritage speakers to enter our schools and not only perform better in school, but also learn English at a level equal to or better than native English speakers.