Each year, when school starts, we’re given stacks of paperwork to fill out. One of the forms is about the languages we speak at home. We don’t speak any other than English, so it’s an easy form to fill out. My son had a homework assignment about culture and his ancestors last night that asked the same question, and I learned that 1 in 5 students in his classroom speaks a language other than English at home. That was common when I was a student as well, because I lived in a town with a huge Greek population. It wasn’t uncommon to run into little old Greek grandmothers who had lived here for 50 years and still didn’t speak English. The signs in our post office were in English and Greek.

I learned today that 35% of Broward County residents don’t speak English at home, either. I always knew Miami was full of other cultures - I guess I didn’t realize how full. 35% is a lot of bilingual residents!