The hard letter from a teacher who denounces the "scam" of bilingualism

The network is circulating the harsh letter from a professor in Huelva who denounces the scam of bilingualism in Andalusian public education, although precisely because it also affects the national level, the letter sent to the newspaper Huelva Information has rapidly become viral among teachers and parents.

His name is Francisco Silvera, Professor of Philosophy for 20 years and although he also has the title of "bilingual teacher", he acknowledges that he has no level to be. It is a full blow for the Andalusian education system that calls into question one of its standards. Do not miss it because it has no waste, and surely in many of its points you will agree.

The letter: "The bilingual scam"

"If you think that your churumbeles are going to speak English when they go out to the University, I'm sorry to disappoint you but not. Bilingualism is the great scam of Andalusian Education, I have been 20 years in this and, except for children of mixed families related to the perfidious Albión or of a very high socio-cultural level, I have never met anyone capable of having a conversation in English with a certain height.If one enters a class of supposedly bilingual Baccalaureate and says too quickly "Hello" they no longer follow you, and this is the daily educational reality.

I, also supposedly, is a bilingual teacher but I will confess that I am not able to read the original Shakespeare (I don't know anyone capable without years of study); Of course, I cannot teach an Aristotle or Logic or Anthropology class in English, I am lacking in level and all of it is marinated with my B2 degree which is what put me in this position, because as there is so little stable teaching staff that I have it : To prevent a bilingual student line from losing their diploma (which is also useless) I had to accept to impart this lie. Let's say it clearly, to the Ministry while the papers and the doors of the institutes say "Bilingual", whatever happens inside does not matter; bilingualism is to distribute a photocopy in English from time to time (I already did that with David Hume, for example), because I do not forget that it does not involve more teaching hours nor can the work done in English be detrimental to the note that in those subjects have the others: that is, if a daughter of his is bilingual, he receives less direct hours of subject to be able to justify that he "speaks English", learns less and gets the same grade (weird, doesn't he?). We have a session every fifteen days to enjoy a native teacher (shared with the village school); in reality it means a bankruptcy in the rhythm of some classes in which we do not supply to deliver the curriculum that they will request in the final or revalidated evaluation; I'm about to tell her to have coffee in those hours, that I invite her but that the Administration doesn't find out, for the sake of high school students, of course.

Until last year to be a teacher of this elite (what a shame) we had an hour to prepare materials, no longer: which means a loss of a couple of teachers per Andalusian educational center ... Let's add: before there was a weekly hour for tutoring paperwork , not anymore: another couple of teachers per center ... And remember that now we give more class hours (fewer teachers yet) and the ratio per classroom has increased to extremes of 30 years ago ... Add the illegality of half an hour of breakfast in The official teaching hours are not counted (the Ministry again saves teachers) ... So that Adelaida tells us no. This is your policy, this is what the future matters to you. Unstoppable ... 750,000,000 euros, six years in jail ... "

Not only in Andalusia

A bilingual school is considered to be one whose educational program is distributed fifty percent between the two languages. Do our children really learn English with a bilingual level?

Many doubt it. The letter has gone viral even beyond the Andalusian territory because it expresses what many Spanish parents and teachers think.

A sample of it is the editorial by Javier Marías in the newspaper El País entitled "Neither bilingual nor teaching" in which he asks, for example, "Wouldn't it be more sensible - and much less expensive - for children to learn Science on the one hand and English on the other, and that from two will find out well? "

There is also a sharp criticism of Susana de la Nuez, mother of two girls in a letter entitled "The scam of bilingual education in the Community of Madrid" in which he recounts his experience after the establishment of bilingual education in the school of his daughters.

Will our children speak English?

Languages, especially English, are a pending subject in our country, especially in the old generations. Hardly, 40% of Spaniards between 25 and 64 reach a medium level in that language.

According to Eurostat data from 2013, although English is the most studied language in Spain (99% of Spanish primary and secondary school students and 97% of secondary school students study English as foreign language), only 51% of Spanish adults say they know another language, when the European average is 66%.

Therefore, We want our children to learn English at a higher level with solid knowledge to maintain a fluent conversation in that language and that tomorrow may also be useful in your working life.

But are we on the right path or is it a claim used by schools to boast of being bilingual When in practice are they really not?

Video: Paul's Teaching on Slavery (March 2024).