Quote:
Originally Posted by RACooper
Tau you were privileged though, and from a school system that actually had funding to have good instructor to student ratios as well as time as resources to help these kids adapt - a problem that is made all the more difficult if the parents have little to no command of English.
My youngest brother teaches kindergarten at two different schools with high populations of new immigrants, and I know how much he struggles with trying to help the kids until they are old enough to enter ESL (they usually don't enter until the 2nd or 3rd grade now). On top of that the federal cutbacks to ESL eduction programmes to provinces with high populations of new immigrants, as well as the deregulation of education ESL programmes that used to be government run, has only produced a system in which the onus and financial burden is now on the student - basically they get a smattering of ESL classes for a grade or two, then if they want to learn more they gotta fork over cash to go to one of the many specialized schools now... and adults have to basically pay to learn as well.
With no more free government run language and culture programs the only options to learn English is to go to one of the private schools or colleges that charge a fair amount for - with this monetary "hurdle" of sorts no in place many immigrants forgo learning all but the most basic of English skills. However it's perversely better in Quebec, with their draconian "Language Laws" the Provincial and Municipal governments still run many basic and intermediate language programmes.
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You don't think you'd learn English best through immersion anyway? Sure, it's going to be hard to actually learn the academic content in English until you speak it, but for learning a foreign language isn't having to use it and speak it one of the best ways?
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