ESL Students Should Be Awarded Credits for their English Classes by BC’s schools
A GROUP OF young immigrants and refugees has ranked improved language policies at the top of a list of recommendations that could improve the lives of newcomers to Canada.
Their policy suggestions are outlined in an October 1 report titled “Fresh Voices From Long Journeys: Insights of Immigrant and Refugee Youth”. The document proposes allowing English-language classes to count toward high-school graduation and implementing a credit program for foreign languages that students speak at home.
“Immigrants and refugee youth feel the school system here is not really inclusive of other languages,” the report states.
Dina Ganan Perez is part of a team that spent more than two years working on the project. In a telephone interview, the 18-year-old refugee from Colombia told the Straight that learning English was a significant struggle upon her family’s arrival to Canada in 2005.
Source: Vancouver Sun, October 2, 2013. By Travis Lupick. Full article
Tags: bc, English, immigrants, policy, Youth refugees