Young learners future of bilingual Wales

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Young learners future of bilingual Wales
Apr 6 2006

Aled Blake, Western Mail

Welsh-medium education has been the subject of controversy in recent
months. Is it good or bad? Is it effective? And what are the benefits of
being bilingual? Here, Meirion Prys Jones , chief executive of the Welsh
Language Board, explains the marketing plan adopted by the board to
promote the benefits of bilingual education IAITH PAWB, the Welsh Assembly
Government's Welsh language policy document, set out a path for the
creation of a bilingual Wales.

This is the Wales where people are able to choose which language they use,
be it English or Welsh. But to take full advantage of this opportunity you
need skills in both languages. Iaith Pawb aims to increase the percentage
of people speaking Welsh to 26% by 2011 - which implies that the number of
pupils who are bilingual in English and Welsh will need to increase by 50%
by the year 2011. The only way we can achieve this goal, or any where near
this goal, is to attract more parents to send their children to
Welsh-medium or bilingual schools.

There is no doubt that Welsh- medium education has been a phenomenal
success in Wales. Talking to colleagues throughout Europe, Wales is seen
as one of the flagship communities in terms of the practical promotion of
bilingualism, a place where bilingual education really works. Certainly,
the Catalans and the Basques have done a good job. But it is in Wales that
parent power has really shown itself. It is in Wales that parents have
shown that they want their children to be bilingual. It is in Wales that
parents have voted with their feet and have chosen bilingual education for
their kids.

During the 1950s and 60s, it was Welsh-speaking parents who set about
creating the Welsh medium education sector. But by the 70s, especially
with the establishment of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin, the Welsh medium
pre-school playgroup association, that English speaking parents realised
that they too could have a piece of the action. They discovered children
could easily become bilingual and could be fluent in both English and
Welsh. And really that is the beauty of it all. Indeed it is a miracle
that happens in Wales on a daily basis. Throughout the country, in
hundreds of schools, every year, pupils from monolingual homes become
bilingual.

Children who at the age of three, could speak no word of Welsh, by the age
of five or six can express themselves well in two languages. It is a
process with little or no trauma - we as adults know how much a miracle it
is. So they become bilingual. What happens after that? If you look at
examination results as the age of 16, they do rather well, certainly above
the national average. In 2004, 62% of pupils in Welsh medium schools
achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, compared to 49% of pupils
in English medium schools. All the evidence also shows that they do well
afterwards as well. Research shows bilingual people have a wider range of
job opportunities.

They also earn more on average, 10% more, in fact. And on top of this all
they can play a full part in two of the majority linguistic communities
that exist in Wales. Certainly the Welsh medium and bilingual education
sector are regarded, inside and outside Wales, as a great success story.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/1100education/tm_objectid=16908956&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=--young-learners-are-the-future-of-a-truly-bilingual-wales-name_page.html