Do teachers encourage children to be bilingual?

Question

it's a question i have always been curious about and getting more negative feedback/comments with evidence to back up your answer would be a bonus, thanks!

Answer 1

If they are, yes.

Answer 2

I don't know about which region you talk and therefore I have no idea whether those teachers are encouraging children to be bilingual or even trilingual. But it's nowhere the teachers' choice, they must follow a curriculum.

It is a fact that learning a foreign language is easiest the younger a child is. Therefore in regions with more than one official language it wold be best to ensure that all children are bilingual (have a minimum comprehension of each language) and afterwards teach some subjects in one language, others in another.
This happens at university level in the bilingual (French/German) city of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Answer 3

Unfortunately in the UK there seems to be less importance attached to learning a second language with only recent moves to include a second language as a compulsory subject. In many other countries it is a part or the requirements for graduation. China requires all students to pass the CET band 4 exam (College English Test) even though most will never use English during their normal working lives. Whether this is good or not to force everyone to pass an exam in a foreign language before they can graduate is open to debate but more time and opportunity for language learning is always a good thing

Answer 4

I think that depends on the individual teacher, the school system and the curriculum constraints. I am teaching Y1+2 and to be frank there isn't time to teach them all the English and Maths that some of them need let alone a second language. I am in Wales and I have space in my weekly timetable for about half an hour of Welsh in the week- which is really not very much at all. To make up for this lack of time I try to include as much incidental Welsh as possible, taking the register, asking for and counting up the dinner money, commands and questions throughout the day in Welsh. It's not much but it is better than nothing!

Answer 5

I can only speak for England. Here, teachers in schools, colleges and universities are required to use the country's official language (English) and to encourage students to use it as well. However, if you want to know whether teachers encourage or discourage bilingualism in their students outside of the classroom, I can't answer for that. I would suspect, however, that most teachers would perceive bilingualism as a positive thing.

Answer 6

I think most teachers do not encourage their students to be bi/multilingual. They might advice them to learn a foreign language (usually English), but it really depends on the teacher, and the environment where this students live. For instance, I live in Nicaragua; there are 7 languages in our country, but only Spanish (the official) language is spoken across the country. The other languages are spoken only in specific communities or areas or the country. Teachers in our public or private schools do not challenge or encourage students to learn our national languages. I think this is sad since we miss on part of out own culture and identity.

Answer 7

i'm an universal make sure and that i both agree and disagree with that statement. the forged instructors have found a thanks to coach those skills and others hence, increasing the point of steerage for those little ones. contained in the structures that the instructors are literally not being held to blame, they're purely practise to the try. the concept of having both state or us of a wide criteria is a very good one. the issue is the position there are solid instructors unions and weak structures in position. the instructors are literally not being compelled to develop their performance ranges. the concept is a very good one besides the undeniable fact that it takes everybody to get on board to make it powerful. fairly of attempting to attempt this, people complained about it and tried to flow round it at each and every turn.an similar ingredient is going to take position with this well-being care equipment. that is not ideal and there'll be some topics. If everybody works mutually to strengthen it and fasten those topics. that is going to finally end up being a god ingredient. What maximum likely will take position although is. the individuals who do not help it,wont attempt to fix it, and truly receives contained in the way of changing it. Turning it right into a tremendous enormous mess.

Answer 8

Not enough in the U.K. I think we should learn other languages from infant school so it stays with us. There are that many different cultures in UK now I think its a good idea to inter-grate better with each others languages. As an older woman I find it embarrassing not to speak other than English as a lot of other countries teach it as a second tongue so why shouldn't we do that here for others.

Answer 9

Yes, I do. In fact, it would be good for children to be expose to more than two languages.
Many studies have shown that children before age eight are sensitive to languages, and have the inert ability to learn more than one language.
And the more languages one knows, the more windows one is able to tap.

Answer 10

not much the only time i ever needed to bilingual at school was in a language class! and i didnt really meet foreign languages until i was in secondary school.

Answer 11

i try to add a few irish words here and there... i'm teaching in a school in Ireland but irish is not really a priority... i think it's important to open their minds and expose them to other languages