On your bicycle, or maybe tricicle

El Pais published a long report on the issue of bilingualism and trilingualism this Sunday. The issue is of course of particular interest in areas of Spain where apart from Spanish there is a local language such as Basque, Catalan or Gallego and also the need to have a third language such as English on the agenda.

The article begins with a discussion of whether or not being trilingual is just as easy as being bilingual. There are arguments for and against this but ultimately the conclusion is that not enough research has been done.

In terms of aiming for a trilingual education system the key of course will the teacher training as we all know. An expert from China also, however, stressed the importance of parents contribution in terms of how important they value the languages involved. In just three decades English has replaced Russian in China as the language most valued by parents as being useful  and therefore most successfully implemented in the educational system

Interesting stuff although I would have welcomed some more detailed description of what being bilingual or trilingual actually entails. Are they referring to speaking or using a second or third language efficiently or actually being bilingual or trilingual in what I would consider the proper sense of these words. I know many people who, being native Spanish or English speakers, also speak the other language with a high degree of fluency and many of our kids do so as well but I remain hesitant when it comes to defining somebody as being bilingual. It really isn’t that easy, is it?

Your comments on this more than welcome and meanwhile the original article (in Spanish) is at : http://tinyurl.com/7tkm3ot

Double trouble?

Not a lot new perhaps in this article on bilingualism but it does touch on all the issues involved. It is also interesting to compare this view from Madrid with other areas of Spain. Madrid may be in the center but, for lots of logical reasonos, Andalucia is certainly not the same as the Basque country when it comes to forms, means and attitudes to bilingual education.

http://tinyurl.com/72hhm6b

Just kidding

Here is a curious site with videos which could be used with kids, essentially CLIL but worth a look. http://thekidshouldseethis.com/

Child’s play

In the search for new sites, material and ideas sometimes it is comforting, relaxing, highly profitable and just plain easy to go back to old favourites and spend some time browsing. The BBC is a perfect example. I read some months ago they were reducing the number of sites and pages they maintained for financial reasons but they still provide the most amazing range of material for all ages, interests and much of it usable in class.

The CBEEBIES site http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ is wonderful for younger kids and essentially, following the menus, self-explanatory. My daughter can stay here for hours if allowed!

For slightly older students, young teenagers, there is another site which I have only recently discovered http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/ Again, it takes time to explore all the options and material but well worth the investment as there is lots here that could be used for homework or on IWBs etc. Check out Newsround for simple news stories and the Things to Do section for some great material.