Page 7 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:09 Page 7

NEWS

More UK migrants speak

English at home

by Matt Salusbury as a sign of integration. In terms Unsurprisingly, the age a migrants aged over 19 in funded
of educational outcomes, migrant arrives has an impact on courses in ESOL, as adult migrant
More than half of the foreign born however, research on English the amount they use English. English is known. The report
population of the UK now speak language learners in schools Some 88 per cent of those who found a 30 per cent drop in
English, “as their first language at suggests using L1 at home may arrived as infants use English at enrolments in the last eight years.
home,” and most perceive their improve results. home. Among those who arrived This seems to be mostly due to
English proficiency as improving, Dr Fernández-Reino agrees. aged 30 or over, the percentage funding constraints, “lack of
according to a recent study by the “What the general public perceive drops to 39 per cent. provision,” and long waiting lists
Migration Observatory at the as an indicator of integration Adult use of English may be which are particularly common in
University of Oxford. might not actually be ‘good’ for hampered by the lower number of England.
The term “first language at migrants in other respects.”
home” comes from the 2018 The group who use the most Number of funded ESOL learners
Labour Force Survey (LFS) of English at home are those born in
39,000 migrant households, the ‘EU 14’ – the original member
according to Mariña Fernández- states from Western Europe, MIGRATION OBSERVATORY
Reino, author of the report. around 70 per cent of whom now
“This is just the language that use English as their main home
respondents used most frequently language. The group with the
when they are at home,” she lowest use, just under 25 per cent,
told the Gazette, adding, are migrants born in the more
“Unfortunately, the LFS does not recently-joined ‘accession 8’ EU
specifically ask respondents about member states in Eastern Europe.
their mother tongue.” Note, however, that migrant
According to the report, some figures for the UK are based on
55 per cent of migrants in the UK country of birth. Some 13 per cent
speak English as a first language at of migrants identify as White
home. This isn’t necessarily a sign British. This includes foreign-born
of proficiency, but the report notes Britons from the 5 million strong
it may be seen by native speakers British expatriate community.

China targets on-line EFL Cameroon schools stay shut

by Matt Salusbury Teachway website had been told by Matt Salusbury
that their 40-hour TEFL NEEDPIX
New regulations require online certificate wouldn’t be enough. Education has come to a virtual
platforms based in China to Another teacher with a master’s standstill in the English-speaking
display details of the qualifications degree in TESOL was told they’d regions of majority Francophone
of their foreign teachers. Under still need to see their initial TEFL Cameroon. A new school year
new Ministry of Education certificate as well. Those who began on 2 September, but
guidelines announced in July, don’t have the required initial following attacks on schools,
online English schools that teach TEFL certification are being urged parents are too terrified to send
under-15s have until June 2020 to by their schools to get one – fast. their children.
make their teachers’ credentials News outlet Caijing reported What began in 2017 as a strike
viewable to students and parents. customers of online English by Anglophone teachers and Deserted school, Cameroon
Personal information will be platform 51Talk who were looking lawyers over the downgrading of
redacted. for evidence of their teachers’ English in schools and courts has Around 80 per cent of schools
Platforms must now obtain credentials had either been given escalated into a full-blown in the two Anglophone provinces
teachers’ 120+ hour TEFL those of a different teacher, or the “language war”. Insurgents are closed, according to Unicef.
certificate from a “recognised organisation “refused” to share fighting for an independent state Some 74 schools have been
institution”. They also need details with them. In response, attacked schools – seen as a destroyed and 600,000 children
evidence of two years of teaching 51Talk said 80 per cent of their symbol of the Francophone state. are receiving no education.
experience; a bachelor’s degree teachers already have the required Some schoolchildren have been Cameroon’s President, Paul
certificate and a police certification, while the remainder abducted. Biya, has announced a “national
background check. are expected to have gained this Government troops were posted dialogue” aimed at resolving the
One teacher who contacted the by the 2020 deadline. to guard schools, but attacks only crisis. However, opposition leader
increased, and the policy was Maurice Kamto remains in prison
STOP PRESS 154 centres closed its doors shortly before we went to press. According sources may also have been held a national five-day strike over
abandoned.
and human rights lawyers recently
Pro-government
A Chinese language school franchise, Web International English, with
to China’s Sixth Tone website, this is the third educational franchise
the torture of their clients in
involved in school attacks, the
to close since July this year in Shanghai alone.
editorial@elgazette.com Gazette understands. custody. 7