The Education of Bilingual Children in Tower Hamlets Primary School in East England - Case Study Example

Policy and Practice in Education of Bilingual Pupils Institute POLICY AND PRACTICE IN EDUCATION OF BILINGUAL PUPILS Introduction Bilingual pupils have an acquaintance that they cannot articulate ideas in English. During a practice as a teacher in Tower Hamlets Primary School, it was noted that the teacher’s assignment is to tap into the pupils’ accessible comprehension and familiarize with it as the groundwork for their teaching strategies. Using bilingual pupils’ home language and cultural background in the teaching and learning atmosphere is a vital initial approach. The National Curriculum was not so precise, and it had been recommended that many bilingual pupils might be missing out of the National Curriculum Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) because of ‘inadequate’ English while there is promising evidence that this has rarely been applied at Key Stage One. Language makes accessible ethnicity this culture includes the bilingual pupils understanding and the experience shapes knowledge. This report seeks to give an insight about policy and practice in the education of bilingual children in Tower Hamlets Primary School in East England. 1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM It is important to consider a few aspects associated with bilingual pupils can no longer be seen as just an issue for central city schools in Britain. Linguistic multiplicity is now a norm in Tower Hamlets Primary School classrooms. Most teachers across the nation can look forward to having some understanding of pupils whose first language is other than English. Because, on the whole, schools continue to reflect the middle-new words and phrases in a relevant context. They will need to attain adequate linguistic capability in order that their understanding of processes and concepts is fully developed. An Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) describes some of the most effectual lessons as those that ‘included the use of specially equipped materials to match the pupils’ levels of English and educational occurrence, and tasks which enabled them to work purposefully with their peers and encouraged them to become increasingly independent of support’ (OFSTED 1994). The Plan During a practice as a teacher in Tower Hamlets Primary School, it was clear that teachers had to plan before dealing with bilingualism. Long-term planning for language use and literacy should use official curricula, such as the Early Years Foundation Stage in England, as its launching pad, and there is no need for other laborious documentation. Schemes of work and long-term commitment to set repeated topics are more likely to stifle creativity than be a useful structure for planning. The long-term aim for teachers is to encourage children to build her or his language in their own unique way and leave the Foundation Stage excited and enthusiastic about their learning. Long-term planning for language can be enhanced by an agreed list of core books and rhymes. This will provide a store of high-quality texts that children will get to know well during their time in setting. These texts can be developed with double language copies and big books, with story snacks, story props and puppets to extend childrens experiences. Core books and their props provide a strong basis for all children to develop confidence in their language through the visual support. Clear illustrations and repetitive texts are particularly supportive for bilingual children and even for multilingual children. Tower Hamlets Primary School teachers should use various strategies to provide a nurturing environment. Sensitive grouping of children can ensure that there is a supportive friend who will model language for the bilingual children to copy. Their friend can also guide them through the various social and cultural situations that they may find puzzling. Teachers can ensure that bilingual children are placed in a position so that they can hear clearly, can observe any accompanying gestures and can always see any book illustrations or visual material that is supporting the language used. The use of photographs, models, pictures and video material can be helpful to all children. In turn-taking games, place the bilingual child third or fourth in the group so that they can copy what is required. Have high expectations for all children but also appreciate that any ‘noncompliance’ on the part of the bilingual child is perhaps a matter of not understanding rather than a withdrawal of cooperation? All children have an entitlement to benefit from the Early Years Foundation Stage, and context is a key factor in helping bilingual children learns sufficient English to enable them to do so. Scaffolding language provides a supportive structure for them. First-hand experiences provide the context and the motivation for children to learn the language in a way that is meaningful to them. They gain in confidence and make their first tentative steps in English. Their first words are added to by staff who provide a rich commentary on the children’s play and learning activities. The children gain an understanding of their new language and practice, recognize words, and hear the patterns of intonation and emphasis: in short, they are tuning in to English and in time will rely less on concrete experiences for their language progress. The Cummins Model The Cummins Model has generated various aspects that have facilitated teachers to gain superior understanding of the bilingual pupil. This theory has been evidential especially in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets Primary School where sixty percent of the school population is bilingual. The challenges of bilingualism for teachers have been as follows: Raising teacher expectation; raising educational achievement; accessing bilingual pupils to National Curriculum; and early identification of bilingual pupils who may have learning difficulties; It seems probable that the multi-dimensional Cummins structure is one theoretical model for separation, which can tackle all these issues. The contributors to the set of operational papers in Frederickson and Cline (1990) based on Cummins’ model were mainly educational psychologists who were seeking methods of curriculum related assessment which would be of particular relevance in assessing bilingual pupils whose learning was causing [their monolingual teachers] concern. Several uses were suggested for the Cummins framework at this stage. In addition to its use for assessment purposes, a tentative idea was proposed that it might have potential as a device for topic planning and ‘for differentiating classroom tasks‘. However, the National Curriculum was in its early days, and there were some problems in trying to apply the framework to it. Examples given were only for Key Stage 1 and the primary curriculum. The challenge, which I will discuss here, is to see if the model had any validity for use by teachers in planning the curriculum in secondary schools. How can we ensure that bilingual pupils are accessed into the curriculum and that they are making progress in terms of achievement? We need to satisfy ourselves that we are making increasing cognitive demands whilst providing concrete referents and comprehensible contexts in terms of both content and process. For teachers in Tower Hamlets secondary schools, the challenge is to move bilingual pupils from the context-embedded conversation to context reduced discussion as efficiently as possible to increase their chance of good academic qualifications. Without these, their chances of employment in the local area are drastically reduced Government Policy in Relation to EAL Conteh (2007) found that government policy related to language range in conventional schools has been motivated by a tacit, but strongly stated, concern to ‘contain’ bilingualism and to prepare pupils for a monolingual rather than a multilingual future in society. Community languages have steadily been marginalized, and their place in main- stream classrooms eroded. At present, there is no professional qualification for teachers of bilingual students learning EAL. Indeed, Conteh (2007) points out that opportunities to gain specialist qualifications are now much more limited than they were 20 years ago. It is not possible to concentrate in EAL or to make language issues central in initial teacher training. EAL teachers’ specialization in EAL comes through their own commitment in practice and through continuing professional development courses run through their local government services and university "The Government recognizes the benefits that come from the preservation of ethnic minority linguistic and cultural background, but believes the main accountability for preserving mother tongue rests with the marginalized community themselves. We trust that English should be the intermediate medium of instruction in schools" (Conteh, 2007) The Application of the Threshold Theory One theoretical proposition to explain the negative and positive findings at Tower Hamlets Primary School is the Thresholds Theory (Toukomaa & Skutnabb-Kangas, 1977; Cummins, 1976). Two thresholds were registered. Each threshold was a level of linguistic competence that children must reach, firstly, to avoid the negative consequences of bilingualism, and secondly, to experience the possible positive consequences of bilingualism. Many children experienced either positive, negative, or neither positive nor negative cognitive effects, according to whether that the child has respectively limited, proficient or partial bilingualism. This was conceived pictorially as simultaneously climbing two ladders, which represent language competence or proficiency. If too few steps are climbed, the child stays somewhere in the lower level. At this level, there are potential negative cognitive effects. Limited linguistic skills limit academic learning and cognitive growth. The first threshold was reached when a child has age-appropriate proficiency in one language. When a child can function efficiently in one language, there are likely to be no negative or positive cognitive effects. Figuratively, the child is then somewhere in the middle level. The second threshold is reached when a child is relatively balanced and proficient in both languages. At this top level, there is the potential of cognitive benefits. Such children will exhibit the age-appropriate ability in both languages. The Thresholds Theory also helps explain why in early and late immersion education there are temporary lags in attainment when the syllabus is taught during the second language. Until the second language has been developed to a level sufficient to cope with conceptual learning, below average performance may be expected. Once the second language is proficient, enough to comprehend and conceptualize curriculum content, immersion experience is likely to have detrimental, consequences, and may have additional cognitive benefits. Other Theories Involved The research on the effectiveness of bilingual education in East London Schools provided empirical support for the theories many linguistics have proposed regarding the process of second-language acquisition. Other theories observed were; Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). In Tower of Hamlet School situation, it would be characteristic of a conversation between classmates on the playground or informal greetings and conversations between the student and his or her teacher. Cummins proposed that it usually takes a second-language learner around 2 or 3 years to acquire BICS. The second type of language skills observed was CALP, which consisted of the language skills needed to do schoolwork. Attaining this type of proficiency is vital in order for the child to make academic progress. 2. GOOD PRACTICE IN TEACHING BILINGUAL PUPILS There is a wide consensus in this country as to what contributes to a good practice in the education of bilingual children in the mainstream classroom, the view now is that the education of bilingual pupils is the responsibility of all teachers and not simply that of EAL or specially funded support staff where these are available. During a practice as a teacher in Tower Hamlets Primary School, it was noted that teachers should adopt the methodologies of partnership teaching, active teaching and learning, collaborative and group work, and the role of oracy in classrooms since contribute to a body of knowledge about good practice, which has a particular relevance for bilingual pupils (Cummins 1996). Partnership Teaching One of the arguments for the promotion of partnership teaching emphasizes changing practice to take account of the diversity of both language and education needs within the classroom. The curriculum offered must be accessible and relevant to all pupils’ needs, and teachers should evaluate their practice in meeting these needs accordingly. (Bourne and McPake 1991) Partnership teaching as described in Bourne and Mc Pake (1991), is a broader model than that of one class or subject teacher working together with one language support teacher inside a classroom. It requires a commitment from the senior management of the school to a model of shared planning, and the expertise of pairs or groups of teachers and other partners working together to access curriculum both inside and outside the classroom. Therefore, teachers of Tower Hamlets Primary School, should organize classrooms to enable pupils to work in groups and the benefit of this for bilingual pupils cannot be emphasized enough. This is now more feasible than ever with the expansion of the use of support assistants in the mainstream classroom Use of First Language in Classrooms For bilingual pupils, the opportunity to use their first language at school is a way of confirming language and meaning to support learning. Many bilingual pupils come from cultures with a strong oral tradition. For example, the Somali language had no written form until 1972 and all religious, academic and cultural learning was handed down orally. These oral literacy traditions, which are vital to the Well-being of a culture, rely on very advanced skills of memory, speaking and listening; we should capitalize on these and acknowledge that some will need fostering and reviving. During this practice at Tower Hamlets Primary School, it was observed that pupils must be encouraged to use their first languages in the classroom, but they will be more prepared to support their learning and understanding in this way if their community language is given a high status at school. For this reason, pupils’ home languages and experiences must not only be valued and recognized in school but also developed and utilized. Parents also frequently need help and reassurance in recognizing the vital role that sustaining and developing oracy and literacy in the home language can play in learning. Research suggests that facility in a first language is a help rather than a hindrance to learning in a second language. Sadly, children whose own first language is not well. 3. POLICIES USED IN EAST LONDON SCHOOLS Both bilingual and EAL support have a place in the education of non-English speaking students, as more than 29 of the states require certificated teaching standards or endorsement for both EAL and bilingual educators. While proponents of “English Only” legislation are really arguing about local control, funding responsibility, and the desirability of recent immigrants, they exploit the claim that English is under threat and continue to work outside education circles for supporters. In response, more than two million educators in the largest mainstream teacher organizations in the USA support “English Plus”—the educational value of bilingualism for academic mastery and bicultural heritage, Schools in East London have moved from a language-deficit model in working with children. Specific constraints in a country have often been used as the excuse for doing or not doing some- thing in a policy area such as making a multicultural or language policy explicit. Any national government that resists the commitment to fund bilingual education programs for children on the grounds that there is no one dominant language other than English may be balking at the cost but may justify their actions around equity—which languages should be given priority for bilingual programs? If limited bilingual programs were to be introduced, catering for all groups equally is not realistic. Conclusions In conclusion, it is pertinent to note that all young children have considerable adjustment to make when they first encounter formal schooling. The observations of this report have indicated that teachers involved depicted a rapid adjustment to school. 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