Thread: Calgary to offer Punjabi classes

Maybe.

CBC News - Calgary - Teach Punjabi in Calgary schools, group urges

"We are trying to introduce Punjabi as a language alternative to young people, so when they grow up, they have another language skill they can use in their work life and private life," said Mohinder Pal, who speaks for the group.

Calgary's public school board requires students to study a second language starting in Grade 4. The options include French, Spanish, German, Mandarin and Cree.

Punjabi is the fourth most commonly spoken language in Canada behind English, French and Mandarin, and is spoken by about 50,000 people in Calgary.

Punjabi was taught at my high school until the teacher was almost killed in a drag racing incident (he was also one of the auto teachers). Popularity of it was quite low - most students took German or Spanish as a mandatory third language, and once the classical language class began (Greek/Latin) many people took that. At one point they wanted to teach Farsi but couldn't get support from the board.

Do you think schools should be forced to offer a wider variety of languages? Do you think more emphasis should be put on learning multiple languages?

I'd personally like to see Ontario adapt a curriculum which makes third language classes not just mandatory for one credit, but for 4 and French should be mandatory up until graduation as well. Provide incentives - the trips to Europe could be better funded and provided to all senior language students. The exchange programs could be revamped so instead of a few dozen students per language it could be open to all interested.

I certainly think American schools should teach at least one foreign language from the earliest point possible in grade school. Having a population that can is bi- or multilingual is definitely a benefit.

Originally Posted by Inspector Gently

Most school boards end up with the same problem... the teachers they have are usually only able to teach a handful of languages. They should do their best to provide as many options as possible, but they are always going to be limited by the satff they have. All of my French teachers were just a chapter ahead of the class in the book. They had college students marking writing assignments because the teachers were not native French speakers themselves. Best we can do in BC.

We teach Mandarin and Punjabi and Cantonese here because that's the people we have here working as teachers. French teachers are hard to come by... and are overworked. It's the law to teach a language we don't have any speakers of.

I find that odd - most teachers at my high school were bilingual. Then again we had one of the only French immersion programs in the county so members of the history, geography, math and several other departments had to have a certain amount of teachers able to instruct in both languages. Even still, in lower grades most teachers had a basic grasp of the French language. It could be due to many factors, like the fact we have several French cities that spilled over from Quebec and that many Ontario students apply to Universities located in Quebec and the atlantic provinces.

We also have here an international school on weekends which teaches over 100 languages. Most kids didn't even know it existed or that it went towards your diploma. They never told us it existed so only students interested in learning languages new it was there.