College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Brown University
• Boston University
• Southern Methodist University
• Loyola Marymount University
• Brigham Young University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of Wisconsin—Madison
• University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
• The College of New Jersey
• Texas A&M University
• State University of New York—Geneseo

Classes in the Major

Children with Special Needs. "Special needs" usually gets lumped into the categories of mentally or physically challenged. In actual fact, "special needs" can be nearly anything, as long as a student has something they can't live without that most other students can. We're not talking about a bug collection or their TV, either. In this case, speaking a language other than what the teachers and student body speaks is definitely a special need. You'll be working with them.

Second Language Acquisition. Languages come in two stages: written and spoken. Both can be equally baffling to someone attempting to learn a new language. "What's with all these squiggles?" "Why don't they look like my squiggles?" Since the goal of bilingual education is to get the student to learn both the information every other student learns and a new language, it helps to know how this is done. This is true for both the oral and written components. Otherwise, we'd have a fleet of new arrivals communicating in signs like Wile E. Coyote, and that seems mean.

Linguistics. That's right, it's the underlying principles of language itself. You didn't think you were escaping without that, did you? While bilingual education majors tend toward the practical end of the discipline, they're using all the stuff the theoretical end has been thinking up. Not taking linguistics would be like becoming an artist and having no idea how paint works. Here's a hint: it doesn't work if you eat it.

Math and Science in Dual Language. Since half of this major is all about teaching you to teach, it makes sense to have a class in it. This is where the rubber meets the road. Not literally, though. There's no driving in class, unless it's driver's ed. This class will teach you how to teach in two languages, making certain that none of your students get lost and that they're able to absorb the lessons. While they're doing it, they get to learn a new language, too.

Principles of Multicultural Communication. Did you know that many of the ways we communicate are unique to our cultures? For example, a harmless hand gesture here can be unconscionably offensive in other countries. It's the reason we've been beaten mercilessly all across the globe. In any case, these problems multiply the more cultures you throw into the mix. Wouldn't you know it, but the United States is the poster child for many cultures. This major was created in an effort to address that. So you're going to learn the basics on how to communicate in an environment when you never know what you're saying with your hands.