Naghmeh Babaee PhD Candidate in Second Language Education University of Manitoba, Canada

1. Minority Language Rights in Canadian Provincial Schools: Implications for Policy makers and Teachers Naghmeh Babaee PhD Candidate in Second Language Education University of Manitoba, Canada

2. Outline • Background • Two questions to think about • The historical, sociopolitical and educational contexts in Canada • Minority language rights challenges in Canada • Discussion

3. Background • The widespread use of English (Crystal, 2004) • 400 million: English as a First Language • 400 million: English as a Second Language • 600 million: English as a Foreign Language

4. Two questions • What are potential impacts of the widespread use of English on other languages • all over the world? • Within a bilingual/multilingual context such as Canada?

5. In a bilingual or multilingual context, should immigrant children maintain their heritage languages, that is, continue using their first languages? Why/Why not?

6. Potential impacts of the widespread use of English: • Linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, 2009) • Language rights violation : violating “rules that public institutions adopt with respect to language use in a variety of different domains” (Arzoz, 2007, p. 4).

7. Implications of language rights (Phillipson, Ranuut & Skutnabb-Kangas, 1995): • Mother tongue medium instruction (MTMI) • Learning at least one official language, as well

8. Linguistic minority=immigrant=ESL students

9. The Importance of Heritage Language Maintenance • Personal (Babaee, 2010a) • Social (Wong Fillmore, 2001) • Cognitive (Cummins, 2001)

10. The Historical Context in Canada • Immigration to Canada: Late 16th century • The total population in 2006: 31,241,030 • Speaking a language other than English or French as a first language: 6,147,840 (almost one fifth of the total population)

11. Immigration: linguistic diversity • Many immigrants: struggling with heritage language maintenance (for example, Kouritzin, 1999)

12. The Sociopolitical Context • Family and first language (L1) community (Guardado, 2010; Guardado, 2002; Torres, 2006; Yu-Tung Carol, 2009) • L1 use at home (Guardado, 2010): Spanish families in BC • the L1 community • Resources (Iqbal, 2005): Francophone mothers in BC • Size (Guardado, 2010): Spanish families in BC

13. School • Attitudes towards HLs (Sotto, cited in Xie, 2010, p. 31) • Principals • Staff • Teachers • Peers

14. Language policy • The medium of instruction: an official language (English or French) • MTMI: Anglophone minorities in QB and Francophone minorities outside QB (the Charter, 1982) • Other minorities: if a sufficient number of immigrants in a community seek MTMI

15. The Educational Context • Submersion programs • English/French medium instruction • HL programming: • Bilingual programs (BC, AB, SK, MB) • HL courses (BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QB, NS)

16. Minority Language Rights Challenges in Canada • Vague policy: “sufficient” number of immigrants seeking MTMI • Bilingual programs: limited to certain provinces and heritage languages • Iranian immigrants in BC: No Farsi/English bilingual programs, no Farsi as a heritage language courses

17. Potentially insufficient instructional time in heritage language programs, for example, two and a half hour per week in ON • An objective of HL education: developing communicative competence

18. Suggestions • For policy makers • Extending HL instructional time • Especially those outside school hours • Bilingual programs in other HLs • HL courses in other HL languages

19. Informing community members of the possibility of HL education at public schools • Partnership with L1 communities: Offering HL courses in L1 communities, taking credits

20. for Teachers • Creating a supportive atmosphere in the classroom • Facilitating collaborative and cooperative learning opportunities in the classroom (pair/group work)

21. Inviting community members to their classrooms • Asking students to relate subject areas to their ethnic backgrounds, comparing and contrasting with peers

22. Communicative skills: • Translation (words and short stories) • Functions e.g. greetings in first languages (English and HLs) • Guessing games e.g. talking in a HL and acting out • Posters in all students’ L1s (English and HLs) on the walls • Drawing attention to prefixes, roots, suffixes in English and asking for equivalents in HLs

23. The academic proficiency • Translating terms (for example, The Internet, bilingual dictionaries) • Additional resources (for example, books, websites) • Simplified instructions • Pictures • Simplified language • Additional explanation

24. Modified assignments • Recognition, rather than, production • Modified assessment • Multiple choice, rather than essay type, format

25. These strategies tend to • communicate the message to immigrant students that their HLs are recognized, valued and used at school, and that using these languages could facilitate the learning of English. • include a variety of HLs, not simply specific ones. • communicate the message to English-speaking students that HLs must be recognized and respected in the classroom.

26. Thank you for your attention. Naghmeh_um@yahoo.ca

27. Discussion • Other suggestions for protecting language rights in Canada? • Your own context: • Are minority language rights protected or violated? How? • Any suggestions? • Other relevant issues