Q1
What problems do many children from minority language communities face when they begin school?
Children who speak a minority language must learn the same things as children who speak the dominant language when they begin school. They must learn the rules for behaviour in the classroom and on the school grounds. They must learn how to read and write. They must learn new concepts in math, science, social studies and other subjects. And they must be able to demonstrate that they understand and can use what they have learned.
But they can do those things only if they understand and speak the teacher’ s language.
Children from minority language communities who do not use the official school language at home face challenges that make school very difficult for them:
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They do not understand what the teacher is saying and the teacher does not understand them.
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They cannot use the knowledge and skills that they have learned at home because those are not included in their lessons or learning materials.
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They are expected to learn to read and write in the official school language before they have learned to understand and speak it.
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They are expected to learn math, science, and other subjects but do not have the school language vocabulary to help them understand the concepts.
Including the Excluded: Promoting Multilingual Education
If they do poorly in their schoolwork— and many do because they cannot understand— they may have to repeat grades. Many students become so discouraged that they give up and quit school altogether. Here is what a researcher in India saw when he visited a classroom in 2005:
The children seemed totally disinterested in the teacher’ s monologue. They stared vacantly at the teacher and sometimes at the blackboard where some [ letters ] had been written. Clearly aware that the children could not understand what he was saying, the teacher proceeded to provide even more detailed explanation in a much louder voice.
Later, tired of speaking and realizing that the young children were completely lost, he asked them to start copying the [ letters ] from the blackboard.“ My children are very good at copying from the blackboard. By the time they reach Grade 5, they can copy all the answers and memorize them. But only two of the Grade 5 students can actually speak [ the school language ],” said the teacher( Jinghran, 2005, p. 1).
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