A measure introduced by MK Oren Hazan (Likud) would make it mandatory for schools in Israel to teach the Arabic language starting from first grade. The bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and is supported by Education Minister Naftali Bennett. Hazan is a strong advocate for Arabic studies and the subject’s ability to build a bridge between Israel’s culturally divergent population. “I have no doubt that when the Jewish population will understand Arabic, the way the Arab public understands Hebrew, we will see better days,” said Hazan.
Israel Considers Mandatory Arabic Study
Xi Jinping Promotes Chinese Language Learning in London
During his visit to the UK, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, attended the opening ceremony for the annual conference of Confucius Institutes in London, stressing the importance of maintaining UK-China relations through language and cultural understanding. The Confucius Institute is an organization affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education that was created to promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture internationally while facilitating cultural exchange. London Confucius Institute (LCI) is the first Confucius Institute in the UK and started to operate in 2006. President Xi Jinping gave the conference’s opening remarks, saying, “I am glad to see that there are so many teachers and students teaching and learning Chinese language, especially that so many UK students are interested in Chinese language and culture.”
World Tapas Day
Celebrate World Tapas Day (October 22) with a taste of culinary Spanish:
Famous Tapas
Aceitunas: olives, sometimes with a filling of anchovies or red bell pepper
Albóndigas: meatballs with sauce
Bacalao: salted cod loin sliced very thinly, usually served with bread and tomatoes
Boquerones: white anchovies served in vinegar (boquerones en vinagre) or deep fried
Calamares or rabas: rings of battered squid
Chorizo al vino: chorizo sausage slowly cooked in wine
Croquetas: a common sight in bars and homes, béchamel with chopped ham, boiled egg, or whatever filings, coated in egg and grated bread and fried
Ensaladilla rusa: (Olivier salad), potato salad made with mixed boiled vegetables with tuna, olives and mayonnaise
Gambas al ajillo: (with garlic), or pil-pil (with chopped chili peppers) or just grilled.
Patatas bravas or papas bravas: fried potato dices (sometimes parboiled and then fried, or simply boiled) served with salsa brava a spicy tomato sauce, also served with mayo or aioli
Pimientos de Padrón: small green peppers originally from Padrón (a municipality in the province of A Coruña, Galicia) that are fried in olive oil or served raw, most are mild, but a few in each batch are quite spicy.
Pulpo a la gallega: (Galician-style octopus) or polbo á feira cooked in boiling water and served hot in olive oil. Seasoned with paprika, for its recognizable red color + sea salt for texture and flavor.
Pincho moruno (Moorish spike): a stick with spicy meat, made of pork, lamb or chicken
Tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette) or tortilla española: a type of omelet containing fried chunks of potatoes and sometimes onion
#tapasday
World Languages Vs. Programming Languages
Some states have proposed and passed legislation introducing coding into school curriculum. This past May, Arkansas passed a comprehensive law requiring all public and charter schools to offer computer science courses and New Mexico and Kentucky have proposed similar legislation. However, a newly proposed policy in Florida appears to be the first that would allow languages to be fully replaced with coding. A survey by Oraco Technology in the U.K. announced that Python overtook French as the most popular language learned in primary schools and that six out of ten parents would rather have their children learn to program than learn French. The description of both subjects as languages is suggestive of an academic overlap. However, while programming and linguistics do share certain aspects, as Amy Hirotka from code.org says, “We still believe [coding] is fundamentally different than a world language.”
Miami Schools Pursuing Quality Bilingual Education
Since the Miami-Dade School district in Florida postponed a scheduled change in the methodology of teaching foreign languages, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has announced plans to launch a new graduate-certificate program for teachers and undertake a $4 million curriculum overhaul. The original plan, which was critiqued by many as exclusionary and elitist, was to eliminate all traditional 30-minute-a-day Spanish classes and replace them with language immersion programs. To address the district’s struggle to find qualified instructors who have skills to teach multiple subjects in Spanish, administrators are pursuing a partnership with Florida International University that will help teachers build Spanish fluency and learn how to effectively teach a foreign language. The district will also buy new textbooks that feature stories originally written in Spanish, instead of just English translations.
Ghana to Push Mother Tongue Instruction
Ghana’s Minister for Education, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, recently stated her intentions to push through the current language policy, which mandates English language instruction, at the highest level so that school children can be taught in their mother tongue. “[Once] we can remove [English as the medium of instruction], we will change this country,” she said at a recent Shared Prosperity Forum conducted in an effort to combat poverty around the world. Over 46 languages and dialects are spoken in Ghana, but English is the country’s official language and the universal language of educational instruction.
Child Poverty Stymies Achievement in School
A new report published by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analyzes data on well-being across its 34 member countries. The study, “How’s Life?” aims to capture a portrait of well-being that reflects the diversity of human experiences, taking into account questions of work-life balance, housing, educational attainment, and civic engagement among others. The study includes a section on childhood poverty and the effects of volunteering on well-being in OECD member countries, most of which are among the world’s wealthiest.
First Catholic Mass in Native Nahuatl Language
The first Mass conducted in Mexico’s most prominent indigenous language, Nahuatl, was held in the country’s most important church, the Basilica of Guadalupe. Nahuatl is a living language, although its best-known form, Classical Nahuatl, which was a lingua franca in Mexico in the 16th century, is long extinct. Modern Nahuatl is currently spoken by an estimated 1.5 million Nahua people who live mostly in Central Mexico.
Taiwanese Complexities
Judy Heflin delves into the complexities of the Chinese dialect or topolect spoken in the former Formosa or ‘beautiful island’
According to the 2015 edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the World, there are a total of 1.38 billion Chinese speakers in the world. However, despite the Chinese government pushing to establish a unified standardization, many variants of the language can also be considered Chinese. The sweeping title of “Chinese” erases a complex history of a constantly evolving language and the controversial political influence of warring regions.
Indigenous Peoples Day vs. Columbus Day
Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1942 to “discover” the Americas. His arrival has been celebrated by American citizens on the 2nd Monday of October since Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937, but recently more and more cities are instead observing Indigenous Peoples Day to commemorate the history and contributions of indigenous peoples across the country. Those against the celebration of Columbus Day believe that the holiday overlooks a painful history of colonialism, enslavement, and discrimination while celebrating a man who launched large-scale genocide. Albuquerque, Portland, St. Paul, and Olympia join at least five other cities in officially celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day this year and shedding light on a population that still feels Columbus’ impact, centuries after his arrival.
