1. Unit 8: Linguistic and cultural minorities Supporting Polish-speaking pupils in schools in the UK

2. Aims of the session To understand the following concepts: 1.Minorities 2.Subtractive, additive and dynamic bilingualism To familiarize ourselves with the challenges that schools can face in the UK when supporting and integrating linguistic minorities, and the strategies they use To explore a case study: Polish-speaking pupils in British schools To discuss the implications of different types of bilingual education systems for the UK

3. What is a minority? “Whatever the mathematical definition of ‘minority’, when the term is applied to groups of people other criteria come into play: history (…), politics (…), economics (…) religion (…), language (groups that speak a language different from the language spoken by the dominant group), and many more. As some of these criteria suggest, there is an important power dimension that needs to be considered”. (The Open University, 2014, p. 63)

4. Integration strategies: These are some of the strategies used in schools in the UK to support and integrate Polish children: Withdrawal of small groups for English support, during the literacy hour Teachers use non-verbal language and visual cues Polish-speaking buddy Two buddies, one who speaks Polish and one who doesn’t, and uses English Staff trained in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Polish teaching assistants (The Open University, 2014, pp. 73-75)

5. Polish teaching assistants (A) How could schools make better use of their Polish teaching assistants, whilst also providing the appropriate pay and working conditions? Do you think the following suggestions could be effective? Are they feasible? What would be your suggestions? Click on Yes or No depending on whether you think that it is a good, practical suggestion, or not: 1.Writing letters for parents in Polish 2.Making phone calls to parents in Polish, in an emergency 3.Translating during teacher consultations and open evenings 4.Helping Polish children to identify and understand the linguistic differences between English and Polish 5.Training colleagues: e.g. linguistic differences between English and Polish where Polish children are likely to encounter more difficulty

6. Polish teaching assistants (B) How could schools make better use of their Polish teaching assistants, whilst also providing the appropriate pay and working conditions? Do you think the following suggestions could be effective? Are they feasible? What would be your suggestions? Click on Yes or No depending on whether you think that it is a good, practical suggestion, or not: 1)Enhancing intercultural awareness: e.g. helping pupils to organize an assembly on this topic 2)Involving Polish-speaking volunteer parents in an effective manner 3)Liaising with the Polish community in the area 4)Liaising with any educational services that may be provided by the Polish Embassy and the Polish Department of Education to help Polish- speaking children in the UK to maintain their Polish competence and develop their literacy skills in Polish 5)Acquiring training in ESOL

7. Bilingual education: Match each definition with the correct term: 1. A concept based on the assumption that a child’s first language ‘interferes’ with the learning of a second language such as English and should therefore be actively discouraged in education. 2. A concept based on the assumption that a child’s home language is valuable in supporting integration into mainstream education and that both languages should be maintained. 3. A concept based on the assumption that multilingual people sometimes mix the two languages and this should be encouraged in education. A. Dynamic bilingualism B. Subtractive bilingualism C. Additive bilingualism (The Open University, 2014, pp. 71-72)

8. A. Offering Polish children two weekly Polish lessons, so they can continue developing their Polish literacy and academic skills. Is this strategy indicative of? - Subtractive bilingualism - Additive bilingualism B. All children attend several weekly sessions focusing on languages and culture. The languages covered, in turns, are: French, Spanish/German, and the main immigrant minority language in the school. Other minority languages in the school are present in academic work, workshops and assemblies. In the library there are fiction and non-fiction books in all of these languages. Is this strategy indicative of? - Additive bilingualism - Dynamic bilingualism

9. Review: Click on Yes or No: 1.I have a clear understanding of the following concepts: Minorities Subtractive, additive and dynamic bilingualism 2. I have a good awareness of the challenges that schools face when supporting and integrating linguistic minorities, and of the strategies they can use. 3. I am aware of the implications of different types of bilingual education systems for the UK.

10. List of references: The Open University (2014) L161 Unit 8 Linguistic and cultural minorities, Milton Keynes, The Open University