Hola! Mayor Kenney Visits Students At Bilingual Charter School
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mayor Kenney today made the 105th school visit of his term -- this time, to a charter that teaches in both English and Spanish.
"Hola! Buenos dias!"
Mayor Kenney -- speaking about all the Spanish he knows -- greeted students during a tour of the Pan American Academy Charter School in the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia. The 10-year-old K-8 charter was founded on its dual-language curriculum, says principal Darcy Russotto.
"Being bilingual doubles your job opportunities," said Russotto, "and often allows you to have a higher salary."
The mayor says it's important that children become bilingual...
"The argument that we should speak English only is really a silly argument," Kenney said. "These children have an opportunity to be multilingual in a global economy."
Russotto says her students, because they start their bilingual education in kindergarten, take to a second language more readily.
