English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England

[sociolingo]

Thanks for giving the balanced picture Anthea.

2008/8/18 Anthea Fraser Gupta <A.F.Gupta at leeds.ac.uk>:
> The governmental source is at:
> http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000786/Language081b.xls
>
> The Daily Mail (like all UK newspapers) has a particular political
> stance, which is why it presents bilingualism and immigrants as a Bad
> Thing.
>
> The governmental data is quite cautious. Practice about how children's
> first languages are recorded is likely to vary from school to school,
> but the figures are sensible figures for those children who speak a
> language other than English at home: many of these children ALSO speak
> English at home. Speaking (for example) Punjabi does not preclude
> speaking English as well. So these are not the figures of those who do
> not speak English.
>
> The main concern at the moment seems to be with the newly-big languages,
> especially Polish, which have resulted in an intake of children,
> sometimes concentrated in particular places, in places (such as
> Peterborough) that have not had much ethnic minority representation in
> the past.
>
> Resources need to be delivered, of course. But the 'disunited nations'
> stuff and the classroom 'battle to educate a massive influx of
> immigrants' are very much the message the Daily Mail likes to give.
>
> Here is a contrasting, feel-good story from The Telegraph (there are
> several like this every year):
>
> -----------------
>
> A-level results: Afghan exile gets into Oxford
>
> A student from Afghanistan who spoke little English three years ago
> scored four As in his A-levels today to secure a place at Oxford
> University.
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/education/2558630/A-level-results-Afghan
> -exile-gets-into-Oxford.html
>
>
> *     *     *     *     *
> Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)
> School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
> <www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg>
> NB: Reply to a.f.gupta at leeds.ac.uk
> *     *     *     *     *
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Subject: English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England
>>
>> English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England
>>
>>
>>
>> One in eight pupils speaks English as a second language, a
>> report has revealed.
>>
>> The Government survey highlights the 'disunited nations' in
>> classrooms as teachers battle to educate a massive influx of
>> immigrants. In some areas more than 70 per cent of pupils
>> arriving at the school gates do not speak English as their
>> mother tongue.
>>
>> Full story:
>>
>> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045097/English-second
> -language-1-8-pupils-England.html
>
>