Abstract

Across the world, there has been growing recognition that achieving proficiency in another language benefits both the individual and the society. In this paper, an attempt will be made to give an account on the advantages of becoming bilingual in today’s world, where highly skilled multilingual workforce is needed, particularly in globalised societies. Various studies have shown that bilingual individuals possess increased cognitive abilities and develop higher academic proficiency; leading to better employment and higher wages, improved social relationships, intercultural competencies and intergroup relations for society as a whole. In Chile, this increasing interest has led to the development of different programs. One of the initiatives in place, ‘English Opens Doors Program’ for public schools, has allowed to improve a number of elements such as the number of hours of English per week, the degree of contact students have with English native speakers and, the extent and level of specialisation of Chilean teachers abroad in the didactic of the language as well as in the English language itself. The degree of success of this program is still to be determined in the coming years; some of the preliminary findings from this initiative will be presented in this paper. Similar endeavours have been undertaken in other places, even where English is the L1. For example the State of Chicago, a first-rated global city, commissioned the Chicago Board of Education to implement a program to promote bilingualism in public schools in the year 2007; interesting insight from this experience will be examined here, together with others of the sort.