Hi Mike (and others)
I've just been (quickly) through the Green Paper. Some of it seems daft and much of it preposterously vague. But it is, after all, a consultation document, and we are being asked for our views. I hope enough people in the ESOL field will be able to make the time to read the document and feed in views and concrete suggestions from the chalk face before the deadline (early June). It looks as though there could be a willingness on the part of the government to devote at least some extra funds for effective ESOL provision and related activities, and it looks as though there may be some open doors we could be knocking at.
Two particular bugbears of mine are the standard of English being expected of people wanting to get a British driving licence (the complexity of the language in the theory driving test), and the requirement that qualified medical people who are not native speakers of English should take the academic IELTS test and obtain scores of which not many native speakers would be capable before being able to work for the NHS. I thought I might mention these in feedback.
Obviously most of the Green Paper applies only to England. Do you know if there will be a similar document for Wales?
Charlotte
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 14/3/18, Mike Chick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: Re: UK should set date for everyone to speak English, says Casey
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, 14 March, 2018, 17:52
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Absolutely! Many
thanks for taking the time to write up these thoughts - I
am sure they articulate what many practitioners see and
feel. While any announcement of an increase in ESOL /
community cohesion funding is welcome,
it is our duty, as the folk at the chalk face, to think
critically about such strategies.
Mike
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum
and message board [[log in to unmask]] on behalf
of James Simpson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 14 March 2018 17:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: UK should set date for everyone to speak
English, says Casey
Hello
all
So a busy
week for ESOL, with some off-the-cuff comments from Louise
Casey, followed by the release of an ‘integrated
communities’ strategy by the MHCLG where English is very
prominent.
Casey:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43370514
Strategy:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/integrated-communities-strategy-green-paper
Louise
Casey’s suggestion that migrants should be compelled to
learn English is one of many such sentiments expressed by
senior politicians of all stripes in recent years (Cryer,
Hodge, Blunkett, Blair, Cameron, Farage, Pickles, Umunna,
Johnson ...). A stuck record, really. The idea that everyone
should be made to speak the language by a certain date is a
new one though, and at first sight it looks as if Louise
hasn’t thought this
one through properly. It seems to be a bit of a non-starter
on possibility as well as feasibility grounds. That is,
it’s not possible to say at what point someone can
‘speak a language’, as language learning is a dynamic
and continuous process with no end
state. Nor is it really feasible to test and identify those
who have not learned to speak the language by a particular
date, and then – what? – deport them all? In some ways,
however, both the obligation to learn English (to a
particular ‘level’) and punitive
measures for those who don’t or can’t do so already
exist, in current immigration law. There is already an
implicit obligation to learn English for settlement through
the Life in the UK naturalisation and citizenship test which
can only be taken in English
(or Welsh or Scots Gaelic on request). And since 2013 there
is an explicit and arbitrary requirement: people applying
for settlement have to pass an English language examination
at level B1 on the CEFR in addition to the Life in the UK
test. Not to mention
the English language requirement for spouse or partner
visas even prior to entry into the UK. So yes, Louise Casey
was talking nonsense, but some of that nonsense is already
in legislation.
What’s
really unhelpful about Louise Casey’s comments though is -
first - the element of compulsion, of obligation, and -
second - the very blinkered monolingualism inherent in
what she says. New arrivals want to learn English, and
indeed gaining access to the dominant language of the new
country is a human right. But it’s a multilingual world we
live in, a world where societal multilingualism is a huge
resource, and policy needs
to get to grips with this, rather than deny it through
acknowledging only one language as the language that
matters. As the Council of Europe’s Linguistic Integration
of Adult Migrants (LIAM) project puts it, ‘A plurilingual
and intercultural approach to the
teaching of the language of the host society ensures that
languages become instruments of inclusion that unite rather
than segregate people’ (see
http://www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/guiding-principles).
Political discourse in the UK needs to shift fundamentally
to embrace this. Rather than demonising new arrivals for
their inability to speak English, why not recognise that
they want to do so? Why not see that migrants are quite
capable of understanding the
importance and relevance of English, in relation to their
other languages, for daily life, work and so on.
If I had my
way, whenever a politician decided to say something about
the need for migrants to learn English they should (1) be
obliged to frame their statement around the
right of new arrivals to gain access to the dominant
language of society, rather than the obligation that they
have to do so; (2) be made to add to their statement the
clause ‘as part of a multilingual repertoire’;
and (3) accompany it with commitment
to strive towards the provision of free and
freely-available, high-quality English classes to all who
want them, taught by trained – and paid – teachers. I
haven’t waded my way through the new MHCLG strategy
document yet, but when I do I’ll be looking out
for at least a hint of these.
All the
best
James
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum
and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Frank.Monaghan
Sent: 14 March 2018 16:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: UK should set date for everyone to speak
English, says Casey
Well it precludes the idea
of us letting anyone in the country who fails the English
Language test all border guards will have to carry with
them. So bad luck if you’re a refugee.
It’s presumably illegal
under international law on that ground alone, isn’t it? Or
maybe Brexit means we won’t be bothering with any of that
nonsense in future.
I have a lot of time for
Louise Casey but on this issue of the relationship between
language and integration she does talk some nonsense.
Frank
From:
"[log in to unmask]"
<[log in to unmask]>
on behalf of Di
Leedham <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Di Leedham <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, 13 March 2018 at 09:23
To: "[log in to unmask]"
<[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: UK should set date for everyone to speak
English, says Casey
As the old joke goes
… that’s half the monolingual British population in
trouble then.
Dangerous piffle, which
reinforces the refusal of government to make the most of
Britain’s multilingual affordances while bemoaning our
problems with MFL.
It never ends
Di
From:
ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board
<[log in to unmask]>
On Behalf Of Laila El-Metoui
Sent: 13 March 2018 04:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: UK should set date for everyone to speak
English, says Casey
Not sure I would agree or
that it’s actually possible!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43370514
Laila
El-Metoui
LGBT
Education Consultant & Teacher
Educator
https://lelmeducation.wordpress.com
Member of
Action for ESOL http://actionforesol.org/
and NATECLA London https://nateclaldn.wordpress.com
Supporter
The Ruth Hayman Trust http://www.ruthhaymantrust.org.uk
Sent from
iPhone
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for researchers and practitioners with an interest in
research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is
managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language
Education Research, School of Education,
University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners
with an interest in research into teaching and learning
ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the
Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education,
University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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