School Daze
The current flap over schools for foreigners is a)long overdue, and b)the tip of a much concealed iceberg.
Downtown Vancouver is replete with young Koreans who are bringing much to our local economy. They rent apartments, pay exorbitantly for English language studies, buy food and beer, CD's, DVD's, clothes and coffee.
The only problem is the schools that are claiming to teach these kids English are doing a terrible job.
Language is spoken.
Say, it again. Language is spoken.
You can write declensions until you're purple, but if you can't say "Buon Giorno," you're toast.
The main library downtown is filled with foreign students pouring over their workbooks and electronic translators. None of them talk to Canadians. None of them speak English. None of them make local friends. They huddle together in floating ghettos, smoking cigarettes and speaking Korean. All of which is understandable and their right.
But don't these schools have an obligation to get these kids connected to the English-speaking community? Doesn't the government have an obligation to assure that schools actually teach what they claim to?
2 comments:
I don't believe the students themselves are particularly motivated to leave their 'floating ghettos'. Perhaps one just wants the piece of paper showing yes, I speak English -- not the actual ability to converse in English. Everybody is culpable. The schools know what their clients want.
M.
David,
Being the selfless guy I am, I am publicly stating here that I am more than willing to spend oodles of time with all the exceptionally attractive foreign female students.
Robert ;-)
P.S. My Indian friend at Microsoft refers to the groups of students one often sees downtown as the "UN Club".
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