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<DIV>Hi Hal,</DIV>
<DIV>How are you doing?<BR>Congrats on you last day of treatment
!!!<BR>Tom</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 3/18/2016 12:01:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
lgpolicy-list-request@groups.sas.upenn.edu writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Send
lgpolicy-list mailing list submissions to<BR>
lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu<BR><BR>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the
World Wide Web, visit<BR>
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send a message with subject or body 'help' to<BR>
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your Subject line so it is more specific<BR>than "Re: Contents of
lgpolicy-list digest..."<BR><BR><BR>Today's Topics:<BR><BR> 1.
Stellenbosch academics feel the strain of dual language<BR>
decision (Harold Schiffman)<BR> 2. At What Costs the New
Language Policy Will Be Delivered in<BR>
Morocco? (Harold
Schiffman)<BR><BR><BR>----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
1<BR>Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:01:33 -0400<BR>From: Harold Schiffman
<hfsclpp@gmail.com><BR>Subject: [lg policy] Stellenbosch academics feel
the strain of dual<BR> language decision<BR>To: lp
<lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu><BR>Message-ID:<BR>
<CAB7VSRCqfT4wmthk5Q79Qhsb4==SSbaW-LA8QtKw3CoubSqX=Q@mail.gmail.com><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="utf-8"<BR><BR>Stellenbosch academics feel the strain of
dual language decision<BR>by Bekezela
Phakathi<BR><http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/staffprofiles/2012/08/02/bekezela-phakathi-profile>,<BR>17
March 2016, 06:48<BR><BR>[image: Stellenbosch University. Picture: SUNDAY
TIMES]<BR>Stellenbosch University. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES<BR><BR>STELLENBOSCH
University says its push to give English and Afrikaans equal<BR>status has
added pressure on its academic staff, as extra teaching will be<BR>required to
maintain the Afrikaans offering.<BR><BR>On Wednesday, university management
also said preliminary figures showed a<BR>decline in the number of black
students who had registered at the<BR>institution this year.<BR><BR>Late last
year, the Stellenbosch University council, which has
oversight<BR>responsibilities of academic and operational issues, decided to
give<BR>English and Afrikaans equal status, despite support from the
rector’s<BR>management team for the adoption of English as the primary
language of<BR>communication and administration from this year.<BR><BR>This
year, the registration rate for first-year black students dropped
7%<BR>compared to last year, the Coloured group declined 3%, while
the<BR>registration rate for Indian newcomers increased 1%, according
to<BR>Christelle Feyt, the senior director of prospective students.<BR><BR>She
cited campus unrest, the Luister documentary, which captured
some<BR>students’ and a staff members’ accounts of racism at the
institution, and<BR>negative media coverage as some of the possible reasons
fewer black<BR>students had enrolled this year.<BR><BR>This emerged on
Wednesday, when members of Parliament’s higher education<BR>and training
portfolio committee visited the university to be briefed on<BR>governance,
transformation, enrolment for this year and the institution’s<BR>language
plan.<BR><BR>PW van der Walt, the deputy chairman of Stellenbosch University
council,<BR>told MPs the previous language policy had shortcomings in
accommodating<BR>students who did not have a working knowledge of
Afrikaans.<BR><BR>"Our academics have worked hard to remedy these in the
interim, while the<BR>language policy is being revised. While enthusiastically
pursuing the goal<BR>of greater language inclusivity, they unfortunately moved
outside the<BR>confines of the current policy," he said.<BR><BR>This had
resulted in a court challenge by Afriforum Youth.<BR><BR>"We now have to
realign our offerings with the current year book, but we<BR>can’t move back
to a less accommodating position. It will require<BR>additional teaching to
maintain the Afrikaans offering. This will place a<BR>heavy additional load on
our academics."<BR><BR>Meanwhile, Ms Feyt told MPs the university was aiming
to increase the<BR>number of black, Coloured and Indian students in the next
five years to<BR>more than 15,000. According to the 2016 preliminary figures,
out of 30,000<BR>students, 62% are white, 18% coloured, 17% black and 3%
Indian.<BR><BR>Committee chairwoman Yvonne Phosa expressed satisfaction with
the<BR>university’s transformation plans. "The challenge now is the
actual<BR>implementation of the plan," she said.<BR><BR>Stellenbosch
University is just one of a number of traditionally Afrikaans<BR>universities
grappling with transformation. Following weeks of student<BR>unrest, the
council of the University of the Free State said last week<BR>English would be
the primary medium of instruction at undergraduate and<BR>postgraduate level
on its campuses in Bloemfontein and
Qwaqwa.<BR><BR>http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/education/2016/03/17/stellenbosch-academics-feel-the-strain-of-dual-language-decision<BR><BR><BR>--
<BR>**************************************<BR>N.b.: Listing on the
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list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<BR>disagree with
a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write<BR>directly to the
original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this<BR>may be
forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<BR><BR>For
more information about the lgpolicy-list, go
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2<BR>Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 11:05:16 -0400<BR>From: Harold Schiffman
<hfsclpp@gmail.com><BR>Subject: [lg policy] At What Costs the New
Language Policy Will Be<BR> Delivered in
Morocco?<BR>To: lp
<lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu><BR>Message-ID:<BR>
<CAB7VSRD-HbFJ4EtKVN3+UFVHc5o-7odcpep7_x3ufX6MRgDG3Q@mail.gmail.com><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="utf-8"<BR><BR>At What Costs the New Language Policy Will
Be Delivered in Morocco?<BR>Thursday 17 March 2016 -
09:21<BR><BR><BR>Abdellatif Zaki is a professor of Languages and Communication
at Institut<BR>Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco. He has
taught<BR>introductory courses to the study of the Koran and Islam as well as
courses<BR>on various intercultural issues. He has ...<BR>At What Costs the
New Language Policy Will Be Delivered in Morocco?<BR><BR>Rabat – Rumors had
it that French would be reintegrated in primary<BR>education as well as a
language of instruction both for the hard sciences<BR>and the
humanities.<BR><BR>Rumors had it also that the place of English was to be
scaled up and<BR>promoted to a language of instruction. In the press
conference, Rachid<BR>Belmokhtar, the Minister of National Education held on
Tuesday, he<BR>dissipated doubts and confirmed the decision to rehabilitate
the status of<BR>French and to upgrade that of English. The introduction of
the latter in<BR>the lower classes, he announced, will be gradual depending on
the<BR>availability of teachers until it covers all grades starting the fourth
and<BR>it becomes a language of instruction. For many, this was also
the<BR>confirmation of the downward indicators of the status of Arabic in
Moroccan<BR>education, the argument being that the language had its shot, a
precious<BR>one, and managed to miss it lamentably driving the whole system
into a<BR>wall. A challenge for the minister will certainly be how to still
tongues<BR>and tame ideologies that have for over half a century been
mesmerizing the<BR>population with discourse hoisting the Arabic language on
top of all<BR>pedestals and making of it the only possible way out of a fatal
course<BR>education had been taking ever since independence.<BR><BR>In his
presentation of the strategy, it was, in fact, clear that the<BR>concern of
His Excellency, was, on the one hand, how to maintain a balance<BR>between the
two major competing foreign languages both of which one could<BR>tell must
have been applying a lot of heat on him and, on the other hand,<BR>how to
convince of the compromise that can but result in affecting the<BR>current
dominating status of the Arabic language and jeopardize the place<BR>which the
Amazigh language has been aspiring to since the constitution has<BR>granted it
official status.<BR><BR>The plight of the man and of his team must not have
been pleasant. Whatever<BR>the case, with the political decision now made and
announced, the load is<BR>off the Minister’s back and he must be feeling
relieved and safe on the<BR>other side of the tight rope. Discussing the
relevance of the decision<BR>would serve much less purpose for the time being
than discussing how it<BR>will be implemented. We will leave that exercise to
the Head of the<BR>Government who a few weeks ago made a scene in the
parliament because the<BR>Minister of Education had announced very timidly
that that the French<BR>language could be used in the future to reach some
scientific subjects in<BR>dine technical schools. The Head of the Government
had disowned his<BR>Minister in public and in a manner many had judged as
humiliating. The<BR>Minister of education had remained placid and did not
react. Now we<BR>understand why, he was working out his K,O. blow. Now, it is
he who disowns<BR>the boss who seems to have swallowed his tongue.<BR><BR>One
fear I have expressed several times is to see foreign agencies
and<BR>organizations taking over the process and pushing solutions they would
not<BR>envisage in their own countries. In fact, I have been part of
discussions<BR>in which it was suggested to entrust baccalaureate level
students with<BR>teaching English after having provided them with a few weeks
training. The<BR>suggestion was rejected at the time but I am neither sure the
current<BR>propositions are much brighter nor that those at the helm are apt
to resist<BR>the pressures of such temptations.<BR><BR>To make sure the
political decision achieves its objectives, and that is<BR>all one can talk
about now, is to make sure the professional profiles of<BR>those who will
implement the project are appropriate and that the overall<BR>setup for its
unfolding is adequate. One simple but sure way to define<BR>profiles would be
to borrow those of the home countries of the consultants<BR>and experts of the
foreign agencies advising the Minister. If they hire<BR>teachers with high
school diplomas and deliver them their own kids after<BR>two or three week
training programs, that would be a decent benchmark. If,<BR>however, an agency
whose country requires academic, training and<BR>certification conditions
which they do not recommend for Morocco, we would<BR>know they are neither
earnest nor honest and are operating with agendas<BR>whose objectives would be
hard for them to admit.<BR><BR>It would seem that the minimum conditions for
one to be candidate to a<BR>teaching position in any pre-college level is a
Bachelors degree and a one<BR>year training in a teachers’ college and to
complete a certification<BR>process successfully. These conditions would
ensure that the teachers will<BR>have an appropriate mastery of the language
both at the fluency and<BR>accuracy levels, a good knowledge of the culture,
history and civilization<BR>of the foreign language and the professional
qualifications to teach it.<BR>This would be the first initiation steps to the
profession. For a<BR>functional integration into the system, the novice fully
qualified teacher<BR>would need to be in a supporting environment that would
ensure them<BR>personal growth and professional development.<BR><BR>The actual
support is provided by senior teachers in every school, teacher<BR>supervisors
and a systematic in-service teacher development program. Other<BR>than this
minimum, the reform will precipitate the educational system in a<BR>darker
abyss and at an uncontrollable increasing speed. Other than this,<BR>Morocco
will end up with a generation of speakers of foreign languages who<BR>can
hardly be understood before it will have to make new decisions and<BR>reforms,
Furthermore, the efforts that would have been made to shift to<BR>teaching
subject areas in these newly introduced foreign languages would<BR>end driving
the nail of functional illiteracy deeper and draw the country<BR>faster into
incompetence and disqualify it from the economic competition it<BR>was
initially planning to reach with this reform.<BR><BR>The issue of teaching
materials in the newly adopted foreign languages is<BR>also a matter of
critical importance. I remember from personal experience<BR>that every
proposition to introduce a change in the foreign languages<BR>taught and in
their functions and objectives, the propositions have been<BR>twinned with
offers of packages of course books, textbooks, pedagogical<BR>materials,
training expertise. There were times in which the packages were<BR>part of
more general offers including loans and political conditions. The<BR>Minister
did not talk about who is to design, write, edit, publish and<BR>print the
teaching materials, We are not talking peanuts but billions of<BR>dirhams over
decades. He did not talk either about the political, economic<BR>and
ideological cost of the operation.<BR><BR>While the idea may be beautiful, the
force of its attraction may be<BR>blinding to the risks it entails. The flower
may look beautiful, but how<BR>sure are we there is no<BR>serpent underneath
….. would have warned good old
William.<BR><BR>http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/03/182297/at-what-costs-the-new-language-policy-will-be-delivered-in-morocco/<BR><BR>--
<BR>**************************************<BR>N.b.: Listing on the
lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its<BR>members<BR>and implies
neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or<BR>sponsor of the
list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<BR>disagree with
a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write<BR>directly to the
original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this<BR>may be
forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<BR><BR>For
more information about the lgpolicy-list, go
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