The new head of White Hart Lane school in Tottenham has said that pupils must focus on learning English.
Now maybe you are reading this and thinking, "of course", but seemingly the previous situation was that many pupils were being taught in their native language. When you realise that more than 70% of the pupils there speak English as a second language and 59 different languages, from Amharic to Ukrainian, are spoken you realise how difficult the situation is.
About 400 of the school's 1,200 pupils speak Turkish, and bilingual lessons were introduced in 2001 for those taking GCSE science. But, results for this group and for other students remained stubbornly low, with only 23% getting a grade C or higher at GCSE.
A tough decision to make, but I think it's the right one.
Hi I'm Mukmany from the forum remember?
What is difference between bi-lingual education and studying English as a second language? In fact I'm not an English student, my major in university doesn't concern about the English language but I do love English and wish I could speak it fluently. I never think it's a second language but it's something I love.
Hi Mukmany,
Of course I remember you.
Bilingual education can mean different things. It often means designing programs for students with limited or no proficiency in the language of instruction. Programs generally use students’ home language for academic and language arts instruction while students are acquiring proficiency in English for academic purposes.
In ESL it can mean teaching a second language by relying heavily on the native language of the speaker. The theory is that maintaining a strong sense of one's one culture and language is necessary to acquire another language and culture.
In some cases it can also mean education designed to help children become bilingual (sometimes called "two-way bilingual education"; e.g., Spanish speakers and English speakers in a classroom are all taught to speak both languages. This is especially important in families where the mother and father speak two seperate languages.
Just checking out the blog. My students are nervous about security when entering blogs!
I don't blame them. Just imagine hosting one!
Thank you for your interest in my article, could you send me the link so I can have a look? (Unless it's already gone).
About your post:
Apparently, in Sweden Swedish lessons are compulsory for all immigrants and yet everyone in Scandinavia speaks perfect English. This is surely the right attitude: You speak my language and I'll speak yours. The minister of Education is a 33 year-old Turkish immigrant. Could you imagine that happening in Britain?!