A Language Other Than English? When, or if, this should be taught in
primary school?
Certainly there seems to be enough of a problem in adequately teaching
English (gaining literacy), without making life harder for youngsters, and
for teachers.
But what if many children already know a second language - that of their
migrant parents? Surely it'd be good to continue and enlarge on this?
I know of one young girl whose Singapore parents spoke Chinese; one
Mandarin, the other Cantonese - yet when she went to school what did she
learn? Italian.
Yes, there's a case for LOTE, but ASAH (As Spoken At Home).
But what of many other youngsters, who parents only speak English? Should
they be compelled to learn a second language, or should such be optional?
Australian settlement followed the English schooling tradition, and that
meant - Latin and French. But our history here doesn't follow European
culture, so Chinese or Indonesian are more apt.
Then there's Classical Studies - going further back in English history -
and these demanded knowledge of Latin and Greek, mainly for their
philosophical or Biblical content.
Insofar as learning English itself is concerned, a knowledge of Latin,
Greek, and Anglo-Saxon, might seem appropriate; but this could wait until
teenage years.
The whole LOTE question needs pondering as to what is the best solution:
whether a universal imposition, or tailoring to individual needs. Also, can
enough trained teachers be found to cater for a large variety of languages -
or can self-learners, in the form of CDs, be used? With bilingualism being
the ideal?

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