Concept Map Assignment

I made a concept map trying to show the benefits of being bi-lingual with an emphasis on speaking both English and Spanish.  When children first come to the United States, there is the obvious need to learn English as soon as possible in order to keep them from falling too far behind academically.  Sometimes, depending on the age of the child and the point of view of the parents, learning English comes at the cost of losing their first language.  The parents reasoning for emphasising English versus their native language is easily understood since they want their children to avoid some of the struggles they may face by speaking little or no English at all.  The concept map I made is an attempt to illustrate that if the students were able to learn English while keeping their native language (in this example Spanish), their opportunities for employment, education, and over all marketability would multiply tremendously.  The map shows some of the countries that have English as their native language and then some examples of Spanish speaking countries.  The line connecting the 'Spanish' bubble with the 'English' bubble shows that if a student could make that connection and be bi-lingual in Spanish and English,  he or she would now have access to all of those other countries for whatever interest they may have. 
In this example, I focused on Spanish/English.  This activity can be used to demonstrate how other languages can open the doors to other countries as well.  I showed a little bit of that with the connections of the French language etc.  but this can obviously be changed to show other languages and countries. 
The brainstorming/concept map software is a great tool to get students involved by just throwing out ideas and seeing where they fit.  The instant visual aids that come from this software would help in keeping some children's attention rather than just asking them to write down what is being said or taking notes. 
In other areas of TESOL, I think that concept mapping and showing the connections between some immigrant groups could help highlight some common issues that certain groups share and maybe give examples of what they have in common instead of focusing on their differences.