Bilingualism encouraged

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 4

Bilingualism encouraged

By

JANE ENGLAND

An educational system that teaches one language is depriving children, an international authority on bilingual education told a meeting yesterday at Christchurch Teachers College. Dr Jim Cummins, an Irish-Canadian from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, said there was plenty of proof that children gained from bilingualism. They were advanced intellectually, linguistically, academically and socially, he said.

Successful bilingual programmes strengthened linguistic skills and provided access into a range of employment. A “tremendous spirit of confidence” could be observed in children attending bilingual programmes. In Canada such programmes had so successful that parents were chaining themselves to school gates in a bid to gain entry for their children, he said. Dr Cummins said in New Zealand programmes geared children to succeed through pre-school, primary school and high school.

It was likely that chil-

dren attending schools that promoted bilingual and cultural interaction would fare better in society, he said.

Schools that found problems with children from minority cultures should start “anti-racist” programmes for their educational system rather than remedial courses for the children.

The Western educational system had traditionally treated bilingualism as a disease to be eradicated from school, he said. It should look instead to encouraging it.