<div dir="ltr"><h1>Bilingualism, part of our Maltese identity</h1>
<h2><p>We should have the courage to offer programmes and
accreditation to those students born in Malta to Maltese parents but
whose first language at home is English</p></h2>
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<div class="gmail-name">Evarist Bartolo </div> <div class="gmail-date">5 October 2016, 9:08am</div>
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University of Malta must send a strong message to students that foreign
languages are important and not only for students following courses in
humanities but also those taking up sciences</div>
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Maltese
and English are part of our country’s identity and both are crucial for
our country’s success. We need to recognise our linguistic reality,
cherish it and even celebrate it. Three years ago we set in motion a
collaborative exercise involving parents, educators and experts in the
field to discuss and draw up a series of language policies in education
for Malta and Gozo. We have recently launched the first ever language
policy for the early years. Other policies for the later years will
follow.
<br><br> These policies are intended
to offer opportunities for an informed debate about how we can enhance
language abilities and to offer direction based on research and
experience of effective good practice. The policy is intended to provide
national guidelines for bilingual education at a young age by fostering
a positive attitude towards Maltese and English. It includes
recommendations and guidelines for parents and teachers, childcare
administrators, and for those training educators.
<br><br> We now recognise fully that
exposing children to more than one language helps cognitive development
and children’s overall learning abilities. Among the guidelines in the
policy are fostering positive attitudes towards multilingualism,
consistently exposing children to Maltese and English and working with
educators to identify appropriate strategies and resources for bilingual
language use in schools. We need more of our students to become more
proficient in Maltese and English.
<br><br> We should have the courage
to offer programmes and accreditation to those students born in Malta to
Maltese parents but whose first language at home is English. We need to
develop programmes and pedagogy to reach these students through Maltese
as an additional language. I call on those who really love the Maltese
language and would like to see it flourish to help us make more of our
students more proficient in Maltese. Even here a one size fits all
approach does not work.
<br><br> We still have a lot of work
left to do to strengthen the levels of both English and Maltese and even
more work to do when it comes to young people learning a third
language. Half of our students are leaving compulsory schooling without
even studying a third language. We have started reversing this worrying
trend by managing to attract more students to take up foreign languages
by launching new programmes in Italian, French, Spanish and German by
offering programmes that develop the skills of talking, listening,
reading and writing and placing language use in the context of daily
life.
<br><br> In the May session of this
year of the MATSEC A level, only 6.7% of the students sat for a foreign
language. Out of 4,025 candidates we had in Arabic, 4; in French, 57; in
German, 17; in Italian, 152; in Russian, 5; and in Spanish, 36. Even
fewer students sat for the September session and these would have
included re-sits.
<br><br> These numbers are certainly
not sufficient and we need to strive for more. The University of Malta
must send a strong message to students that foreign languages are
important and not only for students following courses in humanities but
also those taking up sciences.
<br><br> It would be a shame for
Malta to lose its ability to communicate in more than one language. The
fact that most people can speak English gives us a competitive advantage
and is a part of the reason foreign companies choose to invest in
Malta. We need to have increased language learning opportunities in our
schools and beyond as the knowledge of languages opens windows of career
opportunities and increased levels of understanding, tolerance and
communication.
<br><br> As I said we have already
registered some success through the Subject Proficiency Assessment (SPA)
programme which seeks to present language learning in a more
communicative and functional manner in applied situations. We shall
intensify these efforts in the coming weeks and months.
<br><br> <em>Evarist Bartolo is minister for education and employment<br><br clear="all"></em><a href="http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/70162/bilingualism_part_of_our_maltese_identity#.V_UUPCT7e-c">http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/70162/bilingualism_part_of_our_maltese_identity#.V_UUPCT7e-c</a><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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