WHY ENGLISH IS NOT ENOUGH

Fiona Boughey@FionaR_BFiona.Boughey@stpauls.nsw.edu.au

This is that part of the world, with a concentration of monolingual English speakers, that operates in English, thinks it only natural that everything should happen in English and should logically be experienced and understood in English. (Hajek, 2013)

THE ANGLOBUBBLE

THE REST OF THE WORLD

Almost nine out of ten EU citizens believe that the ability to speak foreign languages is very useful and 98% say that mastering languages will be good for the future of their children.

What is the richest country in Europe?

How many languages do people generally speak there?

In China, English is considered a basic skill, not a language

AUSTRALIA

Language study – lifestyle choice or educational necessity?

40 minutes per week in primary – enough?

Continuity?

Crowded curriculum?

BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Brain Benefits from Being Bilingual

New studies are showing that a multilingual brain is nimbler, quicker, better able to deal with ambiguities, resolve conflicts and even resist Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia longer.

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WHY LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE?1. You become smarter

2. You build multitasking skills

3. You stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia

4. Your memory improves

5. You become more perceptive

6. Your decision-making skills improve

7. You improve your English

Convinced? How do we communicate this to parents, principals, students…?

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THE BENEFITS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING FOR LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

Metalinguistic awareness

Literacy in English

Impoverished view of literacy?

NSW SCHOOLS WITH BILINGUAL PROGRAMS Campsie Public School (Korean) Murray Farm Public School (Japanese) Rouse Hill Public School (Chinese) Scotts Head Public School (Indonesian)

RICHMOND WEST

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over 90% home language not English

taught bilingually (Chinese & Vietnamese)

Literacy results improved over 2-3 years

ENGLISH IS NOT ENOUGH – THE MONOLINGUAL MINDSET

94% of the world's population do not speak English as their first language

75% of the world's population do not speak English at all

ENGLISH IS NOT ENOUGH – THE MONOLINGUAL MINDSET There is a growing belief amongst language professionals that the future will be a bilingual one, in which an increasing proportion of the world’s population will be fluent speakers of more than one language.

How do our students fit in?

SUCCESS?

Amount Quality Exposu

re

resources

motivation

continuity

THE CHALLENGE

Get out of the Anglobubble!

Change the monolingual mindset

What “crowded curriculum”?

ENGLISH IS NOT ENOUGH!