'Twirlies' is the name given to pensioners by Liverpool bus crews. Their free bus passes become effective at 9am but if they arrive before this, they enquire 'Are we too early?'
What happens when classmates don't all speak the same language? "No child should be expected to cast off the language and culture of the home as he crosses the school threshold and the curriculum should reflect those aspects of his life." These are the words of the Bullock Report published in 1975.
Listen to friends from Sheffield discuss merging Arabic and English. More...
But 30 years later, too many children who don't speak English as their first language are still struggling to fit into schools where the community and curriculum is entirely English-speaking.Ideally, all immigrant children would become fluent in English, learn to read and write in both their native language and English, feel comfortable with their bilingual identity, make friends in both languages and do as well in other school subjects as their contemporaries.Unfortunately this isn't easily achievable in a country where 350 different languages are spoken, where schools aren't rolling in spare cash and there are long waiting lists for English language classes.One study in London showed that a massive 38% of Portuguese-speaking pupils in the area dropped out of school before the end of compulsory education, citing a lack of language support as a factor.The educational benefits of using pupils' native language alongside English are becoming increasingly clear. Of the Portuguese teenagers in the study, those who attended mother tongue classes were five times more likely to obtain five or more GCSEs at grade C or above than those who didn't.The Bosnian children studied by researcher Dina Mehmedbegovic had the opportunity to use their Bosnian in classes conducted outside school by the local community. But the advantages of these classes were not transferred to their schoolwork, because there was no continuity or communication between their two types of education, and they were given no occasion to use Bosnian in the classroom.Non-English speaking children don't just need opportunities to learn using their native language - they need help learning English too. How do you start a conversation with the other kids in the class if you don't speak the same language? And how can you be expected to pick up that language if nobody will talk to you?Recently arrived Chinese pupils have reported feeling isolated, and are a soft target for bullies, since they can't defend themselves in English. Yangguang Chen, who has studied Chinese pupils' experiences, says that they are not receiving enough help at school with their new language.Of course, it's not all bad news, and most non-English speaking pupils have good experiences when they join mainstream education. Research in Glasgow in 2000 revealed that over three quarters of children felt that attending English-speaking school was a positive thing, and nearly half said it was the best thing about living in the UK, because it gave them a chance to meet other children, have fun and learn English.
