School Visit

Today I went on my first school site visit-- just a walk-through the halls and a meet and greet of key staff. The school has 7 grades and around 1000 students. The Year 7--11-12 year olds--are "big" classes with upper 20s in class size--yes that means around 29-30 students! The upper classes have smaller sizes as the courses are more specific.

Most of the BMW/EAL students here(the minority and ELs) are Pakistani, there are many diverse Arabic speaking, and there are many languages and ethnicities(they gave me general data) in each school. One thing I gather from talking to educators is there is an approach of bilingualism--supporting the first language in many ways: community resources and weekend day schools. Many English-only speakers are keen to learn other languages and there are lots of classes for Japanese, Arabic,and European languages. There are at least three big secondary schools nearby that focus on language acquisition!

Just like in the US, education finances and government changes are top concern. They have standardized tests like "No Child Left Behind" and then the GSCE--for preparing for O-levels. And budget cuts--the global bane.

Wilem is taking 9 classes: English, math, physics/science, electronics, music/composition, religious studies, Spanish, PE, and world history. He walked in on the unit that was about American cowboys and Native Americans--so he explained a "tomahawk" to everyone.

The classes are 1 hour long and rotate through every day in a cycle. So Wilem has had math twice in three days, etc. There are clubs and additional classes after school, too. At both schools(his and the one I observed nearby) there are Halal, vegetarian, and hot meal choices like a cafeteria-style restaurant. Everyone apologized for the "poor" quality, and I was looking at it all thinking I would gladly eat lunch there! Imagine hot, fresh cooked lunch daily? Nothing was shrink-wrapped or processed.