Bilingual

Education
The policies and programmes
IN bilingual education
OF china and Thailand
The policies and programmes
IN bilingual education
OF Algeria and Nigeria
The policies and programmes
IN bilingual education
OF Canada and Colombia

The policies and programmes

 IN bilingual education OF
Germany, Cyprus and Spain

Reflective commentary
OF
China and Thailand
REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY
IN
ALGERIA AND NIGERIA
REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY
IN
CANADA AND COLOMBIA
 REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY
IN
GERMANY CYPRUS AND SPAIN
 Bilingual Education
The process of teaching students using two languages Educators usually teach students in
their native language conjunction with a second language in conjunction with a secondlanguage
levels of the native and second language depending on the requirements specified in lesson
plans and teaching models.

Two – Way or Dual Language Immersion

 These programs are intended to assists English and Non – English

speaking students learn to speak and write in second language.

Late – Exit or Developmental Bilingual Education

 Students are taught in their native language for a period of time, while
simultaneously they are learning a new language. This way students improve literacy in their
first language, which makes it possible for them to later apply this knowledge to the foreign
language instruction they’re receiving.

The policy on bilingual education aims at the achievement of competence in both

Filipino and English at the national level, through the teaching of both languages and their use as
media of instruction at all levels. The regional languages shall be used as auxiliary languages in
grades I and II.

1. The provision of article XIV section 7 of the 1987 constitution For

purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino
and until otherwise provided by law English.

2. In consonance with this mandate the declared policy of the department

education and culture on bilingualism in the schools ( NBE resolution no.73-7, s.1973) the
department of education, culture and sports hereby promulgates the following
 The policy on bilingual education aims the achievement of competence in both
Filipino and English at the national level, through the teaching of both languages
and their use as media of aspiration of the Filipino to enable them to perform
their functions and duties as Filipino citizens and in English in order to meet the
needs of the country in the community of nations.
 The goals of the bilingual education policy shall be :

1. Enhanced learning through two languages to achieve quality education as

called for by the 1987 constitution.
2. The propagation of Filipino as a language of literacy.
3. The development of Filipino as a linguistic symbol of national unity and
identity.
4. The cultivation and elaboration of Filipino as a language of scholarly
discourse that is to say, its continuing intellectualization.
5. The maintenance of English as an international language for the Philippines
and as a non - exclusive language of science and technology.

3. Filipino and English shall be used as media of instruction, the use allocated to
specific subjects in the curriculum as indicated in department order no. 25, s.
1974.
4. The regional languages shall be used as auxiliary media of instruction and as
initial language for literacy where needed.
5. Filipino shall be taught as language subjects in all levels to achieve the goals
of bilingual competence.
6. Since in the use of both Filipino and English is one of the goals of the
bilingual education policy, continuing improvement in the teaching of both
languages, their use as media of instruction and the specification shall be the
responsibility of the whole educational system.
7. Tertiary level institutions shall lead in the continuing intellectualization of
Filipino. The program of intellectualization however, shall also be pursued in
both the elementary and secondary levels.
8. The department of education, culture and sports shall cooperate with the
national language commission which, according to the 1987, shall be tasked
with the further development and enrichment of Filipino.
9. The department of education, culture and sports shall provide the means by
which the language policy can be implemented with the cooperation of
government and non- governmental organization.
10. The department shall programs funds for implementing the policy, in such
areas as materials production, in service training, compensatory, and
enrichment program for non- tagalongs, development of appropriate
evaluative instruments.
China
In china, issues like the practice and comments of bilingual education,
Including the government policy of English language education, and the conceptions, status
quo, context, public response and the impact to stakeholders in education of bilingual education
in China are thoroughly elaborated.

Bilingual Education in China

1. Two Parallel Conceptions of Bilingualism in China

There are two conceptions of bilingualism that exist in parallel in China which are traditional
bilingualism and bilingualism with modern characteristics.

Bilingual Education in China

The bilinguals desired are people who are competent in a foreign language,
primarily. English as well as mother tongue Chinese.

I. Bilingualism Defined in China’s Context

Bilingualism is the use of at least two languages either by a group of speaker or by an
individual. Ultimate aim of bilingualism in the modern
Chinese context is to produce bilinguals with specialized knowledge in technical
scientific and academic fields and who can when arise use English to communicate with native
speakers, especially specialists and professionals in that language.

II. Public’s Response to Bilingual Education

English and Chinese bilingual schooling in mass media and academic Journals leave no doubt
that the general public in cities, coastal areas and special economic zones where the majorities
have responded enthusiastically.
 Large or small – scale surveys of the attitudes of the general public show that
the great majority of the respondents from all walks of life respond positively to bilingual
education in nurseries and schools.

I. The Impact to Stakeholders In Education Brought Education

English language competence has become a main

concern for the initial and
in – service training of teachers and recruiting teachers, particularly in major
economic centers.

Qualified educators from preschool up to tertiary levels now need to be

bilinguals who can teach their subjects in a foreign language, particularly English as well as in
Chinese.

Thailand

The programme aims to:

 Increase PWO Karen children’s access to quality and culturally relevant

education.
 Improve the school retention and performance rates among PWO Karen
children through bilingual instruction.
 Preserve the cultural identity and integrity of ethnic minorities through the
provision of mother – tongue literacy skills training assistance to young people.
 Expand equal opportunities and provide free basic non – formal education
for all.
 Mobilize local resources such as local wisdom, local literacy teachers and
volunteer teachers to support and carry out literacy classes.
 Writer’s workshops were also organized to produced teaching – learning materials in PWO
Karen language. To date various forms of written materials have been produced in PWO Karen
language including :
 Six( big books) for literacy teaching and learning
 Six ( small books ) for individual reading
 An alphabet chart
 Picture dictionary
 A spelling guide
 Posters and chart
 Card games for developing literacy skills
 13 bookless generated by learners
 A manual for writing in PWO Karen
 A basic PWO Karen primer

Teaching – Learning Approaches and Methods

The programmed employs a bilingual approach to classroom instruction. As such, classes

from preschool up to grade 6 are conducted in the local PWO Karen language in order to
enhace children’s capacity to master basic literacy skills and afterwards
( from grade 7 ) to comprehend class instruction in both the local and
Thai language.

Teachers are encouraged to use participatory and child – centered

Teaching learning methods such as games, debates, story telling
and key words in order to develop literacy skills and other life skills
among students.
 Colombia
Domains of bilingual and multilingual use in Colombia as in other Latin America countries have
been positioned at two opposite Poles of social scale so called elite bilingualism, and the
bilingualism of the indigenous communities and the speakers of Creole languages. More than
99.2% of Colombians speak the Spanish language also 65 Amerindian languages, 2 Creole
languages and the Romani languages are spoken in the country. The kind of Spanish speak in
Colombia is the paisa dialect. Paisa dialect it is spoken in Colombian coffee production areas,
such as Antioquia, Risaralda and Caldas.

Linguistic Policies in Colombia

Language policies and reform agendas preceding the National Bilingual Program in Colombia
can be traced to the times of the colony. As presented by Zuluaga (1996 as cited by de Mejia
2004) after the colonization of the “ new “ continent, Catholic missionaries were effective in
imposing their languages, mainly Spanish, Greek and Latin. The English syllabus corresponds
to a seminal efforts to improve foreign languages teaching and learning in Colombia. It was
proposed in 1982 by the National Ministry of Education with the partnership of British Council
and Centro Colombo of America no and cultural organization.

Canada
Bilingual Education in Canada
. Adoption of the official language act (1969) French and English equal rights and status.
Minority LS – are children whose mother tongue is not the same as the language use by the
school as the medium of instruction.

Majority LS – are children whose first language is mother tongue is the same as the medium of
instruction. Variety of programs immersion different from the traditional French second language
approach. Involves a switch of language between home and school. A policy of preservation
and enhancement reinforcing protection against discrimination and preserving the right to use
language other than the English and French.
 Audio – lingual Approach – students are introduced to target
language by teacher who has native or near native command.
Extended Approach – is the combination of a core language
teaching programs plus the study of a content area through the
medium of the second language.
Immersion Approach – it typically involves the exclusive use of
the target language in the school at the initial grade levels early
immersion begins with.
Functional strategy – most second language teaching program
use this strategy because core teaching is far more prevalent
than either the extended or immersion approach.
This finding by the Burstall group was counter to earlier views
(Pinfield 1967), bit in agreement with the findings of study of
teaching French as a foreign language in eight countries as
reported by Carroll (1975).

Cyprus
The official languages of the Republic of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish (Article 3 Constitution
of the Republic of Cyprus, 1960) which are also the official languages in education. The two
official languages of Cyprus are those of the 2 major ethnic and linguistic communities of the
island (Greek and Turkish Cypriots). Standard Modern Greek (SMG) the language
constitutionally recognized as an official language family SMG spoken in Greece, it is also
spoken in Cyprus by the CG community. The CG dialect is not formally taught at any level
currently English is taught for two hours per week from the fourth grade of elementary onwards.
All students take at least two hours of English per week throughout their public school
education. However, senior high school students have the option of taking additional four or six
periods of English per week. The new national curriculum, the implementation of which is
scheduled to commence in the fall in 2011, providers for an expansion of English instruction
which is currently set to begin as early as kindergarten, and provisions have been made for
infusing English language mini – lessons in all subject. According to the new curriculum, the
teaching of English in public schools aims .

1. The adequate perception and comprehension of the English language and of the cultural
element associated with it :
2. The enhancement of students self – image and awareness of their own culture.
3. The development of positive attitudes toward people from other linguistic communities
and culture.
4. The cultivation of the students ability for communication and interaction, oral and written,
initially and ultimately in developed and complex form.

The curriculum calls for a focus on the communicative approach to

teaching and learning language on students diverse learning needs
and characteristics on orientation toward multiculturalism, on
fostering life- long learning and on teaching English through its
integration in content – based learning. French is introduced as a
required two – hours – per – week subject in the first grade of junior
high school and remains so until the end of the first grade of senior
high school. Beginning from foreign languages offered at this level
are English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish.
 Algeria
Language Policy of Algeria
 Arabisation Policy – refer to a broad array of language policies
designed to strengthen the status of Arabic and reverse language
shift initially caused by colonialism and later by globalization.

Phases that had an Impact Language Education Policies

Algerians development history since its independence consists of three

main phases each of which has an import in language education.

Phase 1: Impact of French Colonization – a network of schools and an

educational system dominated by French language.
  French only policy where the educational values and language are
being replaced by the French culture and language replacing the
Arabic as the official language of the country.
 Emperor Louis Bonaparte believed that the relationship between the
French and the indigenous population needed to be improved;
created a bilingual school system.
 Jules Ferry, Frances Minister of Public Instruction and Fine arts,
believed that through education, Algerian population could be
transformed and civilized.

Phase 2: Nationalist Transition – rejection of assimilation of Algeria with

French culture and language and promoted an Islamic / Arabic cultural
renaissance.

 In France, Algerians become aware of

 Democratic and Egalitarian Principle – principle that had
been vigorously suppressed in Algeria and that would
form basis of pro – self government ambitions

 With this political change movements in the late 1920s

 Islamic cultural identity and language was revived
 Etoile Nord – Africaine – the first – colonial group to be
established.
 The establishment of this organization was followed by
the founding of the Federation des Elusin 1927 – an
organization that demanded increased rights for Muslims
within Algeria.

 The associations of Algerian Ulama , which boldly rejected assimilation Islamic / Arabic
cultural renaissance.
 The association founded. Inter Alia, around 130 private Arabic schools that were not under
the control of laws governing the colonial school.
 The reason the school were established was that the founder of the association;
 Ben Badis – a learned Islamic theologian believed that
the Algerian people needed to be taught the true
meaning of Islam
 Pure Islam required the ability to read the Qu’ran and hence the necessary to learn Arabic.
 Literary Arabic or northern standard Arabic derived
from classical Arabic with simplification and
modification both in speaking and writing.

 The activity of this school were severely contained by the colonial authorities two years
later in 1933.
 Qu’ranic schools within three kilometers of the French
public schools were only allowed to teach during the
hours when French school were not in session.

Phase 3: The transition to the free economic market

 National commission for the reform of the educational system recommend that French be
reintroduced as the first mandatory foreign language.