Needs of the ‘Bilingual Schools' Program in Andalusia Regarding EFL Classrooms and Language Assistants

Since the implementation of Bilingual Education in Spain, research has focused on studying ways to improve the quality of this educational model. However, although there are aspects that threaten its correct functioning and/or implementation, little has been done to find solutions to those issues. Thus, this chapter presents findings from a research conducted in Seville, Spain, and compare them to those of some current studies in different autonomous communities to conclude that some important issues that have been previously reported but have not been solved are the lack of linguistic and methodological training for the stakeholders and time for coordination or planning, and confusion regarding specific information (roles, functions, procedures, etc.), among others. Most importantly, the chapter concludes that a number of actions should be taken by the regional Board of Education and/or schools to improve the quality of the bilingual education offered in Andalusia.

Speaking Tamil Language is Prohibited for Primary Children by Bilingual Private Schools at the School Premises in Tamil Region in Sri Lanka

This study presents an overview of the students those who study in the medium of English Language at the private bilingual schools about the prohibition of Tamil Language even though they live in the Tamil Region as a native speaker of Tamil Language. The bilingual children of primary section who have become dominant in English Language learning by the private bilingual schools. On the other hand speaking their mother tongue Tamil is highly prohibited at the schools premises in Tamil Region. The study identifies the term “Bilingual Education” and why speaking of Tamil Language is restricted for the Tamil native children. If there is a student in the bilingual education, he/she can study his/her whole subjects in English Language, at the same time there is no any necessities to stop talking Tamil language at the school premises. So while learning or studying in the medium of English, the student can speak in Tamil language. At last according to the quote of Albert Einstein “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” But unfortunately nowadays it is changed by these bilingual private schools in Tamil Region. Our children really suffer by the domination of their second language instead of using their mother tongue Tamil.

Efforts to Improve English Speaking Ability of Five to Six-Years-Old Bilingual School Students Through Hand Puppet Media

This classroom action research was motivated by the five to six-year-old students’ low English speaking ability in bilingual schools, especially in pronouncing, adding vocabulary, and forming sentences. This research aims to improve the English language skills of five to six-year-old students using hand puppets. This research was conducted from April 9 to May 4, 2018, at the TK IT Al Ikhlas Islamic Bilingual School by employing Kemmis's and Mc Taggart’s model in two cycles with three meetings each. The subjects of this research consisted of twelve students (seven males and five females). Based on the research results, there was an increase in English language skills through hand puppet media. In conclusion, the factors affecting students’ English speaking skills are familiar vocabulary, clear and easy to imitate teacher's pronunciation, exciting and varied media, and opportunities for them to use hand puppets while imitating the teacher. The researchers concluded that the hand puppet media could improve the five to six-year-old students' language skills.

Bilingual Schools as a Model of National Education of the Ukrainians Abroad in a Foreign Language Environment

The article provides a retrospective analysis of the evolutionary proc-esses of formation and development of native language education of Ukrainians in the polyethnic environment of Canada and the important role of the state bilingual (Ukrainian-English) school, their importance in preserving the national culture of diaspora Ukrainians. The organizational and pedagogical principles of the educational process in bilingual schools as the main means of learning the native language by Canadian Ukrainians are highlighted. In Canada, there are four types of language immersion programs. They differ from each other in the number of academic hours dedicated to learning in the second language. The full immersion program in the second language takes 80 to 100 percent of the study time. In the programs of partial immersion during the first half of the day training is conducted in the second lan-guage, and during the other – in English. It is established that the system of bilingual education gave students the opportunity to master the Ukrainian language as a subject and at the same time to study certain school subjects in this language, which is extremely important from a psychological point of view. According to the educational program for grades 1–12 in the first three grades, the main focus is on listening, speaking and cultivating respect for culture, but already in the second grade, children begin learning reading and writing; in the 4–6 grades the culture of language is formed – its comprehension, speaking, reading and writing; in grades 7–12 students improve language and speech knowledge, skills and abili-ties, use them in their everyday life. It is found out that the main method of forming language and speech competence is conversational-visual. To implement it, teachers widely use methodological resources of teaching: printed educational publica-tions, audio and video resources, educational and methodical materials on different types of media, information and communication Internet resources, periodicals, primarily pedagogical. It has been detected that public bilingual schools in Canada contrib-ute to the mastery of the Ukrainian language as a major factor in pre-serving the ethnocultural identity of Canadian Ukrainians, an important means of their ties to the world Ukrainians.

What Kind of Culture Should Teaching Assistants Be Familiar with?

Language Assistants have become an important resource for teachers in bilingual schools in Spain especially in the Madrid region. Most Language Assistants come from English speaking countries, especially from the United States. In their role as Language Assistants, they are expected to bring and share their knowledge about cultural aspects and content subjects and, at the same time, they need to share their beliefs and perspectives towards Spain and Spanish schools. Nevertheless, there is sometimes controversy around this topic as there are obvious differences and similarities between both cultures; one of them being the misconception regarding the type of culture the need to teach to students.