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Peru: Callao to make all preschools bilingual - 5,000 teachers taught second language

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Beginning in 2010, all preschool students in the constitutional province of Callao will be taught in two languages, announced Governor Alex Kouri, stating this would better prepare children to face 21st century challenges.

To carry out this project, the governor explained that 5,000 pre-school, elementary and high school teachers would be taught a second language.

Among the languages teachers can choose to learn are English, French, Portuguese, Italian and German.

Despite the variety of languages teachers can choose to learn, Governor Kouri affirmed 85 percent of them would want to command the English language.

The decision to make all of Callao's preschools bilingual is a part of the region's educational reform and was published in Peru's official gazette on Friday.

An auction is to be held to determine the institution that will be in charge of teaching these 5,000 teachers a second language. The institute to handle this task will be named on November 15, said Kouri.

"The amount that has been calculated to be invested is 4,890,570 soles", said the governor, explaining that books and other pre-school material would begin to be replaced next year.

Assuring students would have adequate bilingual material to learn, he also affirmed that the teachers to be taught the second language would receive appropriate training.

There are approximately 8,000 teachers in the region of Callao.

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# Martin says :
10 October, 2008 [ 14:19 ]

A great decision!

# Splaktar says :
10 October, 2008 [ 23:21 ]

"English, French, Portuguese, French, Italian and German."

Israel has French on his mind today?

As for the news, very good stuff!

# davidc says :
10 October, 2008 [ 23:38 ]

English and Mandarin the rest is horse manure why spend money,and time in other languages that will have less importance in the 21 century! 

# Splaktar says :
11 October, 2008 [ 09:08 ]

I agree that French, Italian, and German are not very useful unless you plan to move there and live.  Portuguese can be useful due to trade and commerce with Brazil who is a neighbor and soon the road will be done.

Mandarin is a good idea, but I imagine that Peru does not have enough skilled teachers that will take poor wages in order to teach other teachers Mandarin.

# Martin says :
11 October, 2008 [ 09:29 ]

I am afraid that Splaktar's comment regarding low salaries for the teachers teaching a foreign language is probably correct. Low salaries = unqualified teachers = poor language instruction at the schools.
 
On several occassions I have "bumped into" Peruvian high school and university students who said they studied English at school. The 'quality' of their English was very poor and I am trying to be polite.
At the end of the day, just a frustrating exercise, in which the students and their families have little idea as to how poor their education is.

I wonder how many people administering this program are also fluent in a second language that is immediately relevant in the 21st. century.

# Israel says :
11 October, 2008 [ 10:08 ]

LOL! Thank you Splaktar.

# jb says :
11 October, 2008 [ 12:21 ]

The quality of their English is probably on par with the quality of my Spanish in high school in the US.  Taught by a nun who knew 3 words more than the students.  En la tierra de los ciegos, el hombre con un ojo es el rey.

# Martin says :
11 October, 2008 [ 12:39 ]

jb - two wrongs do not make one right.

# Rachel says :
11 October, 2008 [ 13:57 ]

"Quality" is definitely a concern. Even the poorest schools offer English or Mandarin Chinese as a second language. The kids come out with bad accents and a very poor handle of the language.

I bite my cheek when I go to a colegio for my children and they say that they teach English. My kids now speak English with a Peruvian accent. It does more damage than good.

French is good for diplomatic and tourism purposes.

At least they are trying to take a step in the right direction. Hoorah for them.