Victorian schools are placing a new emphasis on bilingual education.
Premier Ted Baillieu wants to make second language learning compulsory for most students starting in 2015. But this is just another in a long line of language learning efforts. Why are English speakers so persistently monolingual?
Linguist Daniel Midgley learns more on this week’s Talk the Talk.
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Here’s the original article from the Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/vic-schools-to-teach-bilingual-curriculum-20110514-1enlu.html
Arabic classes in Texas: The initial furore
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hh3fAo88jnumuzzUss1tIhj8xKYg?docId=CNG.6452f9dc1f6d42e812ba63ecbbf7ac98.841
The school district decides to drop it:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/08/2986748/mansfield-schools-lose-grant-for.html
How many languages are spoken in Australia? Census data (PDF):
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/poa-2008.pdf
Languages in Australia: (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Australia
