<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="" id="page-title">Boost for bilingual learning in Victorian schools</h1>
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Students at a Victorian primary school are set to benefit from a
grant to support a bilingual program - the first such grant for nearly
20 years. </div>
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<span class="" style="font-weight:bold">By</span>
<div class=""><a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/author/luke-waters">Luke Waters</a></div> <br>
<div class="" title="UPDATED 16 Dec 2015 - 8:38 PM"><span class="">16 Dec 2015 - 5:00 PM</span> UPDATED YESTERDAY 8:38 PM</div></div>
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<p>A small Victorian primary school will become the first in nearly two decades to formally establish a bilingual learning program.</p>
<p><span>Brunswick South Primary received a state
government grant this week to become the first Victorian school since
1997 to formalise its language programs.</span></p>
<p>Melbourne University linguistics professor Joseph Lo Bianco applauded
the move and said bilingual students developed a deeper understanding
and better appreciation of the school curriculum.</p>
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<div class="">Comment: Why my daughter won’t study Aboriginal languages in her HSC</div>
<div class="">Professor Jakelin Troy is planning to
discourage her daughter from studying an Aboriginal language at high
school. The University of Sydney academic explains why the move is
currently in her daughter’s best educational interests. </div> </div>
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<p>He said it helped them to see the world through the eyes of other
cultural systems and more bilingual schools should be established.</p>
<p>Professor Lo Bianco recently released a paper arguing linguistics
education policy had for too long been driven by considerations of trade
and business, and other factors must be considered. </p>
<p>“It transcends economic questions - of course we should also attend
to the needs of the economy, but that's only one part of a language
policy - but it seems to have taken over everything,” he said.</p>
<p><span>Parents Michael and Diana </span><span>Marsicovetere</span><span> told SBS News says teaching </span>their children both English and Italian was instinctive. </p>
<p>Their kids attend <span>Brunswick South Primary School. </span><span><br></span></p>
<p>“Having a bilingual school reinforces their Italian - it normalises
it. It's important, so it's not just a washed down [version of
Italian], a few words here, enough to maybe hold a really simple
conversation,” mother Diana Amato said.</p>
<p>Another student, Mia, is already fluent and considering the doors her linguistic abilities could open one day.</p>
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<div class="">Comment: Want your kids to learn another language? Teach them code</div>
<div class="">Computer languages are analogous to the
written versions of human languages but simpler. They have a defining
grammar and come with equivalent dictionaries of nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs.</div> </div>
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<p>“Maybe if I want to help in other countries like refugees and stuff
well that would help too, [having] another language,” she said.</p>
<p>Together with sister Allessia and brother William, Mia, 10, already benefits from the school's robust language programs.</p>
<p>Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said it was the first step in a move towards more similar programs.</p>
<p>“I’m really keen that we expand the number of bilingual schools and this is the first step in achieving that,” he said.</p>
Brunswick South Primary School principal Sheryl Hall said being
bilingual had many benefits for young students, giving them
"confidence", as well as increasing "their love of other
languages...their appreciation of a much more global perspective than
just here in little insular Brunswick”.<br><br><a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/16/boost-bilingual-learning-victorian-schools">http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/16/boost-bilingual-learning-victorian-schools</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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