Bahtatboy

English taught as a foreign language at a school in Leeds

A comprehensive school where native English speakers are in a minority is to start teaching English as a foreign language to all of its pupils.

“Many of our pupils are not only new to English but they are not even literate in their own language. In some cases we are the first people to put a pen in their hand.”

“We have children from every African country, every European country, and just about anywhere ending in –stan."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...-in-Leeds.html

All credit to the school for tackling the issue in a way that seems to be appropriate, but...

Beakersful

How do International schools running a British Curriculum work out here in comparison? Do they only let in English speakers? What are any issues that could be seen in UK schools where mass immigration is drastically increasing the percentage of students in thus specific situation?

flares

English can be taught as a second language after YORKSHIRE

shiraz1

Bilingualism and immigration in London have given the city's schools a massive boost
http://m.bbc.com/news/education-21534863

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/m...s-9125535.html

Boomhauer

What is the frightening is the creeping Islamisation of any country with a sizeable Muslim minority.

Since the above article is from the Indy, one can't claim it is right wing fear mongering.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-9210682.html


Now an anrticle from the Telegraph on Islamisation of what was previously a well regarded school.

" Government intervenes at school 'taken over’ by Muslim radicals"
" Secondary to be placed in special measures by Ofsted as parents and staff detail campaign of 'Islamisation’ in city "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/reli...-radicals.html

Beakersful

Never, ever, ever using percentage of A to C's in league tables as indicators of performance, education or student capability.

What happens in poor schools is they bring in a (frequently) non-educator to run it. If a kid is doing badly they only teach them five subjects. If the kid can't even do them then they're kicked to the kerb to prevent them messing with the league table entry for the school.

Take, say, a school with a 24% passing rating. Right in the middle of chav central. Maths, English, PE, PE2 and PE3 become the five subjects. 50% of the lads in the school honestly believe they are going to be professional footballers. The pass rate goes up to 96%. No one questions it. The boys literacy is so low that many are described as 'unable to read and write properly' by more capable kids in their classes.

I was once told not to do or say anything that could harm the educational chances of deprived students. But if means a misguided viewpoint on meritocracy then everyone who thinks like this can go jump off a cliff. After over a decade of not marking students down for spelling and grammar at GCSE English we have to ask whether mass immigration and low literacy of these students in the English language, let alone their own, makes one iota of difference to the ludicrous and institutionally corrupt league table situation we find our nation in today.

shiraz1

None of which explains the huge relative performance growth of. London schools compared to the rest of the country

Beakersful

Check the dates of the periods in question. 55% of London residents don't have English as their first language anymore. London has been slow to catch up with the artificial league tables due to that period of mass immigration. Makes all the sense in the world. London hasn't been operating in a vacuum.

shiraz1

You'd expect London to improve as the immigrant parents moving in are much more educated than the people who had children in the capital 30 years ago were, and they are much better educated than British Londoners now
It's a worldwide phenomenon, explains why British expats in Dubai don't lower standards and why NY is better educated than Tennessee

Beakersful

After the time I've spent out of the EU throughout my life, and interacting with immigrant workforces, education is less of a key indicator to me of capability, trust and relationships that I was led to believe growing up.

League tables are no true indicator of anything. You have to close your ears to them and find another testing level.

shiraz1

Its a complex issue, but the idea that Britains education standards are reduced by educated immigrants is farcical.

"Britain’s foreign-born population includes a higher proportion of people with tertiary education (broadly, university graduates and above) than in almost any other OECD country (see chart 1 for a selected list and here for the full data). Incomers are much more likely to be highly educated than native Brits, and that gap is growing."

http://www.economist.com/news/britai...-better-billed

The evidence is all in the opposite direction

http://www.theguardian.com/education...lass-challenge

""In comparison to other rich world countries, London is the only capital where [pupils'] achievement is above the national average," said Wiliam

"I think the evidence we have is that most immigrant families seem to have high aspirations for their children.

"Because London does have a relatively high proportion of recent immigrants, the aspirations of their parents are likely to be higher."

Beakersful

The education, at school or home, of native speaking Brits compared to other cultures us not black and white. "But educational attainment does not transfer entirely smoothly to the workplace." 49% of our youth go into uni now, about 38% of our youth get a degree out of it. So, why do business leaders say our kids are going backwards in employability from A level standards?

There was evidence of English ability in native speakers dropping in London a few years back dye to mass immigration, where the native speakers became the minority. The dialect spoken, vocabulary in storage, was going to hamper careers like a closed door.

shiraz1

"There was evidence of English ability in native speakers dropping in London a few years back dye to mass immigration, where the native speakers became the minority. "

I'd like to see that, most evidence in both economic and educational spheres shows bilingualism/multilingualism as being likely to raise both educational and economic performance.

scrubbedexpat141

According to the 2011 London Census:

British nationals - 5,000,000
The next 27 countries with the most people in London - 2,000,000

Bahtatboy

Which is what no-one said. When you have a comprehensive where the majority don't speak English, and for some pupils it's the first time they've held a pen, then there's a problem. A ****ing big problem.