A COMMITMENT TO ENGLISH
المؤلف:
Tara Goldstein
المصدر:
Teaching and Learning in a Multilingual School
الجزء والصفحة:
P42-C3
2025-09-25
326
A COMMITMENT TO ENGLISH
Tara: I wanted to ask you about [English/Cantonese] bilingual teaching. Why was it an appropriate strategy in Hong Kong, but not appropriate for a group of students in a Canadian setting?
Anne: There are at least two differences [between school settings in Hong Kong and Canada] that I will talk about. The first difference is in Hong Kong; it is a homogeneous culture. If you are using a bilingual approach, then everyone is able to understand that approach. So, when I am explaining something in their mother tongue, they can understand. There isn't any problem of equity .... The second difference is that back there they expect you to use bilingual approaches to help students understand English because the whole approach of teaching English is different. There [in Hong Kong], there is a lot of emphasis on reading and writing. Spoken English is not emphasized because you don't need to speak it, because it is a Chinese-speaking society. You don't need English for your daily lives ... Of course, parents or schools would like to see students being able to speak English fluently, but it is not a survival skill. Here [in Canada, or more specifically Toronto], you need to speak it because it is the language of the mainstream and it is a survival skill .... There is more flexibility or there is more room for using bilingual approaches there.
Tara: Right. So the English-only policy that you have used in your classroom [at Northside], you would not necessarily use that policy in Hong Kong.
Anne: It depends on the level of the students. For grade 12 and the OAC (Ontario Academic Credit/high school leaving credit) equivalent, I didn't use Cantonese at all. It was for the junior grades, to help them a little bit. Usually I used it for explanation, like the meaning of vocabulary, new words.
Tara: So the challenge for someone who does have the bilingual skills you do, here [at Northside], is that you have [students with] a range of [different English language] abilities. You have Barry, who has just arrived and is very much a beginner .... Someone like him could probably benefit from your bilingual approach. Yet, he is in grade 12 and you have other students who are advanced. I know that in your class you have an English-only policy and there are chores for students who speak languages other than English to do [when they are overheard speaking other languages]. When you were thinking about your pedagogy and your strategies, how did you come up with an English-only policy in light of the fact that you knew your class was going to be mixed in terms of [English] proficiency levels?
Anne: Well, personally, I have a strong commitment to make sure that they speak only English in class because I think I understand the family backgrounds. Not just the Chinese kids' [backgrounds], the ESOL kids' [backgrounds]. I mean they don't speak English at home. Their parents don't usually speak English with them and their parents very often expect them to be able to retain their mother tongue. So, these kids, if we don't force them to speak English at school, they'd have no chance of speaking the target language or the language that they need to acquire. And if we cannot provide such an environment for them, I think we are doing them a disservice. Secondly, time is short. If we don't enforce an English-only environment, I am sure that when they get to universities, no one is going to do that. And since Canada is an English-speaking country, for the sake of the future of the students, I think we have to make them speak English. It is a different country, it is a different environment, and for the benefit of their own future, their own careers, they better equip themselves with good spoken English, because it does make a difference when they are looking for a job.
Tara: Right. If a student like Barry was to come to you for help, and was really struggling, because you have the ability to use Cantonese, can you imagine a situation in which you would use Cantonese? With a student, like, whom you felt it would be more efficient to use Cantonese to—
Anne: No, I won't.
Tara: Not here [in Canada]. Can I ask you why?
Anne: Well, okay. As far as learning is concerned, I think they should get used to being able to communicate with their teachers in English, regardless of what subject it is ... I don't want to set any precedent. If I do that, then they'll save their questions and see me after class, hoping I will give them instructions in their mother tongues. It is not fair for other students and it is not a wise use of my professional time or their time. So, in order to encourage them to maximize their learning opportunity during class, if they come and see me after class, I usually speak in the same language [I always use with them, English] ... I will break the rule in one situation: if they come to me and want counseling. If they are having some personal problems and they can't express themselves that well in English. Only under that kind of circumstance, when the student is desperate, and wants some help, and counseling is needed, I may conduct a counseling session in a student's first language. But as far as teaching and learning is concerned, I think it is rather illegitimate. [Interview, May 27, 1998]
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