Re: Public and parochial Schools

Ken Goodman (kgoodman who-is-at u.arizona.edu)
Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:11:57 -0700

Let me respond to Angel's questions:
The British schools in Argentina were for a population that was truly
bilingual- the families, though in Argentina for generations, spoke
English at home. The goal of the schools was to provide British
education for their children. Since the Malavinas war between n
Argentina and England, fewer families maintain English as their first
language and children are likely to come to school at least Spanish
dominant. My sense is that students dominant in English are rare in
these schools. However all pupils leave school bilingual. All graduates
take the Cambridge External Exam and many come to the States for
college. The government requires that all schools have a Spanish
curriculum. The spanish (Castellano) teachers have more rigorous
requirements than the English teachers who are paid higher salaries.
Since education in Latin America is half day, essentially these students
attend two schools simultaneously which follow different curriculum, use
different methodologies etc. Subjects in the two language are redundant,
two histories, two biologies etc. In some schools there appears to be
some effort to coordinate. To my knowledge no teachers teach bilingually
in the same school.

Angel Lin wrote:
>
> Ken,
> That's very interesting information. Is it what they call a 2-way, dual-language programme?
Mostly as I've said, the school serves Spanish dominant pupils and aims
at making them bilingual. But it alms at providing a British education
(as distinguished from an education in English.

And by "subjects are redundant": do you mean they repeat the same
content in 2 languages, or is there any division of content over the 2
languages? In a 2-way, dual-language programme, there are students from
both ethnic groups (e.g., English-speaking Ss and Spanish-speaking Ss).
Is this the case in the Buenos Aires schools you mentioned? No. American
schools in Argentina and elsewhere seem to serve both Spanish and
English dominant pupils but in the them the goal is to be provide an
American Education In English.

This pattern of bilingual education seems to exist also in Chile.
Argentina, Uruguay and to at least some extent in most of Latin
America.
> Thanks.
> Angel
>
> At 09:23 AM 5/24/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >In Latin America, where education tends to be a half day, there are many
> >bilingual schools that essentially are two separate schools with
> >separate curricula: for example in Buenos Aires the British (private)
> >schools have Spanish and English each for a half day. The faculties are
> >different (with different paths to certification) And subjects such as
> >science are redundant: English biology and Spanish biology for example.
> >In most of Latin America, one reason for sending kids to private schools
> >is so they will get bilingual education. Incidentally teachers are paid
> >so poorly that many are taxi teachers. They teach in one school in the
> >morning, grab a taxi and teach in another in the afternoon.
> >--
> >Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
> >504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
> > fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
> >
> >These are mean times- and in the mean time
> >We need to Learn to Live Under Water
> >
> >
> ***************************************************************
> Angel Lin, Ph.D.(Toronto)
> Assistant Professor
> Department of English
> City University of Hong Kong
> Tat Chee Ave., Kowloon, Hong Kong
> Fax: (852) 2788-8894; phone: (852) 2788-8122
> E-Mail: enangel who-is-at cityu.edu.hk

-- 
Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ     
         fax 520 7456895                      phone 520 6217868


These are mean times- and in the mean time 
We need to Learn to Live Under Water