BOISE — One family is cruising across the United States to emphasize the importance of bilingual education. Adrienne Babbitt and her family operate the bilingual bus, and they made a pit stop in Idaho this week.
They run the Building Bilingual Families program, which aims to connect Spanish-speaking families and English-speaking families from all over the world.
"If you know just a few words or phrases in another person's language or enough to carry on a basic conversation, it says to that person I really care about you, and I see us as equals," said Babbitt,
"I chose Spanish because I want more families in this country to learn a language that can help."
The bilingual will travel to Salt Lake, Arizona, Colorado, and then Texas.
Bilingual education is important in Idaho schools as well. Idaho Teacher of the Year Jorge Pulleiro says that learning a new culture also helps with future job searches.
"Bilingual education is a great help to both English-speaking students and English language learners as well," said Pulleiro,
"in the market place, they're looking for people who can translate who can be in meetings and speak both English and Spanish."
