Julian Miranda

Misty Jenkins
Professor Mildred Sparks
LE 1360
12.16.2014

A Taste of Utahs Tongues: A successor in Language Diversity

In a world filled with approximately 7.125 billion people communication is fundamental.
There are roughly 7,000 languages and dialects spoken throughout the world. (Diversity
Consciousness) All of which heavily impact our daily lives. We will be taking a look at the
growing success of bilingualism and multilingualism here in Utah and how immersion programs
integrated in schoolsparticularly early education-- as well as religion play a huge role in the
success that per capita, Utah is the most linguistically diverse state in the U.S. (Foreign Direct
Investment in Utah)
In a state prized for its public school education, upwards of 60% of Utahs public school
students study a foreign language. In the early 1980s Utah implemented its first dual immersion
school. Since then it has grown dramatically with different schools teaching different languages
consisting of Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese, French, and German. With students in early
education starting in the immersion program in first grade and continuing it until high school
graduation, immersion programs prove to be one of the most effective ways to become fluent in
another language.
In 2008, Senate Bill 41, The International Education Initiative Critical Languages
Program was passed thanks to the determinations of then Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., State

Senator Howard Stephenson, World Language Specialist Gregg Roberts and Deputy
Superintendent for the Utah State Office of Education, Larry Shumway. With the passing of this
bill immersion programs soared and the demand for students to learn a second language reached
an all-time high. In 2013, 116 programs and 25,000 students enrolled for fall 2014 in Chinese,
French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish immersion, Utah is a leader in the movement for
mainstream immersion education. (Mainstreaming Dual Language Immersion)
There is a significant difference in language proficiency and language fluency. The
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, also known as ACTFL, defines
language proficiency as what a student can do with language in terms of speaking, writing,
listening, and reading in real-world situations in a spontaneous and non-rehearsed context.
Language fluency is used informally to denote broadly a high level of language proficiency,
most typically foreign language or another learned language and more narrowly to denote fluid
language use as opposed to slow halting use. (Wikipedia) The American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Language has created a broad target based grading scale that displays which
proficiency levels a student should be reaching in their target language. The student progresses
up in tiers as they accomplish additional grade levels i.e. a first grader typically rangers between
novice-low and novice-mid.

With many of Americas jobs being outsourced it is crucial that we are preparing our next
generations for the utmost success. Gregg Roberts, world-language specialist and dual languageimmersion specialist at the Utah State Office of Education stated, To prepare students for future
jobs, we must educate students who are multilingual and globally confident. It takes many, many
years of hard work to learn a language at a business-quality level." Thirty one percent of Utah
schools emphasize in the immersion of Mandarin. (Utahs China Connections) Not to mention
that, Utah has one third of all the students in the entire country who are learning Mandarin
Chinese. (Utah Leads the Nation in Dual Language Immersion)
Utah uses a 50/50 teaching method where half of the students school day is spent
learning English and the other half in the foreign language in which they are enrolled in. Most

schools start the immersion program in first grade; however, there are a few schools that do start
as early as kindergarten. From first through third grade mathematics, science, and social studies
are taught in the target (foreign) language while reading and language arts are taught in English.
Come fourth and fifth grade the tables turn and the student then switches to learning language
arts in the targeted language while math, sciences, and social studies are then taught in English.
Many parents, even educators, were skeptic about the quality of education their students
would receive when dealing with immersion teachers, and whether or not teachers were capable
of properly educating their students in target languages. Besides the fact that Utah has the
highest percentage of native English speakers who can speak a second language Utah has
signed Memorandas of Understanding (MOUs) with China, Spain, Mexico, France, and Taiwan,
and these agreements are currently providing about 30 highly skilled elementary International
Guest Teachers. (Speaking in Tongues) These guest teachers help promote the students
success and reinforce the fact that students are taught in an effective and efficient manner.
Besides engaging in immersion learning classrooms, one other way Utah helps hold the
trophy for having an outstanding amount of fluently linguistic learners is thanks to the Mormons.
According to results from the 2010 United States Census, Mormons (members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) represented 62.1% of Utah's total population. (Wikipedia) A
congregation that believes families can live together eternally by following theirs beliefs of
Gods commandments, a religious group that has built the city of Salt Lake around its holy
granite temple, are also the same group that have a firm belief that women and men of God
should serve missions. A notion where men the age of 18 and women the age of 20 volunteer
one and a half to two years of their young lives to become missionaries whom travel to other
lands, often foreign, to spread the word of their gospel. Missionaries are frequently sent to other

countries knowing very little of their new home, including the language. Considered another
form of all-encompassing learning, missionaries are placed in a constant state of immersion and
forced to learn a new language. In 2012, more than 55,000 missionaries were at 340 mission sites
across the globe. (National Journal) About half of them started to learn a foreign language at the
Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah before they were sent to serve in the mission
field.
Language diversity doesnt only appear where missions take place. Utah's LDS linguistic
diversity has often been showcased during conferences held in Salt Lake City in early September
or late October. The conference is translated into American Sign Language, Cambodian,
Cantonese, French, German, Japanese, Laotian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan,
Spanish, Swahili, Thai and Tongan; fifteen languages, one faith. (Speaking in Tongues)
While Utah indeed harvests some of the best outdoor recreational opportunities one can
imagine, it is without question that we are also one up on the totem pole for being a linguistically
diverse champion. A success which is heavily accredited to the Latter-day Saint religion and
immersion programs integrated into our public school systems. Nonetheless, regardless of each
of our person beliefs or spoken tongue(s), to live by these words can never hurt Little one,
whoever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world. Their lives may be different
from yours, and their words may be very different from yours. But inside, their hearts are just
like yours. (Mem Fox)

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