Re: [lg policy] UK: Muslim women to be taught English in £20m, plan to beat 'backward attitudes'

[Baron, Dennis E]

Agree completely, Dave. First Cameron cut funds for language classes, now he's trickling them back with an eye toward saying, “Hey, we spent the money, they still didn’t learn English, so no more money, no more immigrants. Problem solved.”

Dennis

Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-305-0067
English Dept: 217-333-2390
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron<http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron>

read the Web of Language:
https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25















On Jan 18, 2016, at 11:12 AM, Dave Sayers <dave.sayers at cantab.net<mailto:dave.sayers at cantab.net>> wrote:

Yeah I linked the Guardian's 7am story, which was basically just summarising David Cameron's article in the Times. You found a later Guardian article offering a critique.

But I still haven't seen/heard any discussion of how utterly meaningless this amount of money is. I'm not saying more money should be spent (teaching them Muslims how to speak proper!); I'm saying that this is not a (language) policy. It's fluff. It's a distraction. It's populist nonsense, mixed up with a load of toxic baseless bile about radicalisation. I can't help but think it's got something to do with Cameron's ongoing negotiations leading up to Britain's EU referendum, and bolstering his image as defender of Blighty against Johnny Foreigner.

I am quite tired and grouchy at the moment as I make my way towards the end of a large pile of marking..

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk<http://www.shu.ac.uk>
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk<http://www.wiserd.ac.uk>
dave.sayers at cantab.net<mailto:dave.sayers at cantab.net> | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers



On 18/01/2016 17:00, lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu<mailto:lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 16:38:39 +0000
From: "Baron, Dennis E"<debaron at illinois.edu<mailto:debaron at illinois.edu>>
Subject: Re: [lg policy] UK: Muslim women to be taught English in ?20m
plan to beat 'backward attitudes'
To: language language policy<lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu<mailto:lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>>
Message-ID:<BCA8A4BC-A655-4EE9-933F-0DD2D099368D at illinois.edu<mailto:BCA8A4BC-A655-4EE9-933F-0DD2D099368D at illinois.edu>>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Not all rosy? Here’s the other half, Dave: New Tory Rules: Speak English or get out ---

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/18/david-cameron-stigmatising-muslim-women-learn-english-language-policy

Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-305-0067
English Dept: 217-333-2390
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron<http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron>

read the Web of Language:
https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25



On Jan 18, 2016, at 1:39 AM, Dave Sayers<dave.sayers at cantab.net>  wrote:

"Tens of thousands of Muslim women unable to speak English are to be given the chance to learn the language in a new government drive to build community integration and counter extremism.

Launching a £20m language fund, David Cameron called for an end to the “passive tolerance� of separate communities which left many Muslim women facing discrimination and social isolation."

More here:http://goo.gl/3QVjD2.

I've heard enough episodes of BBC More or Less to ask how far that money will go. The article goes on to add: "The government estimates that there are 190,000 Muslim women in England who speak little or no English." So, £2m into 1.9k, that would work out at... £10.53 per person!

Chump change for populist fluff then, basically.

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University |www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD |www.wiserd.ac.uk
dave.sayers at cantab.net  |http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers


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