Language composition has heavily evolved in the United States and Florida in the last twenty years. Out of the five common non-English languages spoken in the U.S., the United States Census Bureau reveals that they are Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Spanish, and French. The figures were estimated mainly based on the survey response and were not yet to be independently validated. Of which Tagalog is four times smaller, Chinese-speaking households represent about 33% of all limited English-speaking households in America. Similarly, Vietnamese households with little English stand at about 31%. Significantly, the non-limited English-speaking fraction among the Tagalog-speaking households is 92%. The other primary non-English language in U.S. households is Spanish, with most households indicating the language as one of their primary shared languages (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Though less prevalent than Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, or Spanish, French is one of the most spoken non-native languages in the U.S.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2020, the percentage of people speaking different language other than English increased to 21.6% as opposed to 17.9% in 2000. For Florida, this has increased from 23.2% in 2000 to 29.9% in 2020. Spanish, Haitian, and Portuguese are the major non-English languages spoken by households in Florida. The language that is used within Florida has, in turn, changed. Data USA reports that 29.8% of the population in Florida speak a non-English language at home as their primary shared language, above that of the nation. Spanish followed as a distant second in the non-English language spoken at home, with 22.1% of the total households where it was reported as the primary home language shared.
Now focusing on county-level changes within the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County was the first selected. However, specific data on language demographics at the county level over the past 20 years has not been readily available. From this, the language breakdown attribute for Hillsborough County may have taken a similar trend as with the rest of Florida, where Spanish seemed dominant (Florida 2 for Florida, n.d.).
In Hillsborough County, Alexander Elementary School is a K-12 public school priding itself in an environment that allows all learners to be linguistically diversified to nurture growth. Recognizing the importance of support in this regard, the school offers a range of programs and resources. One of the leading programs at Alexander Elementary is English as a Second Language (ESL) classes that provide focused instructions to assist in gaining English language proficiency (Explore Alexander Elementary School in Tampa, FL, n.d.). The school, in addition to its academic curriculum, has a bilingual education program that maintains and improves proficiency in English and the student’s first language.
The additional services Alexander Elementary provides include the following that support both the student’s interests and their families. The school also provides language support services to help the students overcome the language barrier and ensure excellence in academics. The training parameter regarding cultural sensitivity is also among the efforts of the school that help enhance the level of appreciation of several cultures within the school. Additionally, community outreach programs help strengthen the relationship between the school and its families of varied languages. Understanding the importance of being well communicated, the school website is one significant source of information sharing. Given the linguistically diverse community, this is made so that one family gets all the essential information being updated there. Families feel more included and engaged when they can access some, if not all, of the updates, resources, and announcements posted in their schools and respective district regions.
References
Florida for Florida. (n.d.). Datausa.io. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/florida/demographics/languages
The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States – Statistical Atlas. (2012). Statisticalatlas.com. https://statisticalatlas.com/state/Florida/Languages
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022, December 6). Nearly 68 Million People Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home in 2019. Census.gov; United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html
Explore Alexander Elementary School in Tampa, FL. (n.d.). GreatSchools.org. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.greatschools.org/florida/tampa/1311-Alexander-Elementary-School/
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