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I wonder if the standard of English will go down that is taught in classrooms so the multilingual kids have a better chance of keeping up with english speaking kids.....
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Actually, there's an example of this four doors away at the primary school my son's going to go to - it's got a fairly high intake of non-English as first language children (from all over the place, particularly East Africa) and apparently (according to the headmistress) they get to exactly the same level in a year (so much so that their results are indistinguishable from native English speakers). The school's one of the top 200 in the country on last years results, which were admittedly exceptional. The key is probably that it's quite a well off area and a well-managed and resourced school.
Children learn fast, particularly when given help and encouraged to mix. It's quite common round here to see an Asian woman in full headscarf etc. chatting to her offspring in her own language and being answered in a broad Lahndan accent, innit. Knowing more than one language should be an advantage, anyway.
Back to the Express - the article was a mashup of an article in the Sheffield Star, which was based on a council report that says the opposite of what the Express is trying to make out - namely that Sheffield is a multicultural city and *it works very well, thank you*. The council want to keep things that way.
Apparently the press office is fed up with the Express, which they think didn't read the report before going to press. Now, is it the council 'throwing different races together', in Womble's charming phrase, or the Express grossly misrepresenting a report they haven't read as effectively BNP propaganda that's acting in the irresponsible manner?
http://5cc.blogspot.com/2007/06/expr...ing.html#links