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Diversity of language and culture
Young Scots, many of them bilingual, are growing up in a culturally
diverse society, in an increasingly interdependent world. Schools
should therefore create an ethos and generate a curriculum which
will recognize languages other than English and lead pupils to
enjoy and benefit from the varied languages and cultures of the
community.
Schools should strive to promote the status of all the languages
used in the school community in significant ways. Pupils should
be allowed to use their mother tongue throughout the school, and
community languages should be valued as part of the life of the
school, being displayed, for example, on the classroom walls and
used in notices.
Use of community languages in this way will recognize the claims
of pupils commensurate with their needs. It will benefit the school's
relationship with parents. The daily use of varieties of language
will also foster an interest in language generally.
Where children come to school speaking a community language,
there may be support for the teaching of English from a teacher
of English as a second language. A bilingual teacher may also
help in the classroom, especially at the earlier stages. If none
is available, bilingual parents and other adults from the local
community might help with conversation, story-telling and reading.
Language support might also be provided by means of videos, books,
audio tapes and distance learning materials.
All pupils can increase their respect for and understanding of
other cultures by reading literature which gives insights into
the values of non-European cultures, and the ways of life of the
varied communities of modern Britain. Pupils and teachers should
be alert for inaccuracy, bias and stereotyping in the texts they
encounter. Pupils should be encouraged to read books from the
class or school library which will give them, in their community
language or in English, stories and poems which are drawn not
only from their own cultural heritage but from others too, especially
those represented in the school. Sharing these with other pupils
in the class or group will help all the pupils to value the richness
of other cultures as well as their own. Pupils with a Standard
English language background should be helped to appreciate the
power of other forms of language. This openness to a variety of
cultural influences should not be confined to special events but
should inform the curriculum as a whole.
The school and the pupil must work together towards early achievement
of the targets in English. However, the overall ability of learners
should not be judged solely by their command of English, which
may, by necessity, be incomplete.
Teachers should therefore build on the diversity of culture and
language in their schools by:
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fostering respect for and interest in each pupil's mother
tongue and its literature, whether English, Scots, Gaelic,
Urdu, Punjabi, Cantonese or any other;
developing each pupil's proficiency in the written and
spoken forms of Standard English as the language of national
and international communication and also, as far as resources
allow, in any other language thought by the parents to be
important in the pupil's community;
developing general language awareness skills and attitudes
in all pupils at an early age as a foundation for the later
systematic learning of particular languages;
creating awareness of bias and prejudice and challenging
these in their own use of language and in the language used
by others.
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