Free Republic

Pupils who speak English as a first language are in the minority in 13 out of London’s 33 boroughs, according to official figures released Tuesday. Fifty-six percent of children in elementary schools in inner London do not speak English as their first language. Throughout the country, English is not the mother tongue to one in seven elementary-school-aged children. Such high numbers of inexperienced, and in many cases, incapable, English speakers is putting a heavy burden on Britain’s education system. Far more disturbing than this, though, is that it shows how much immigration is changing Britain. The data, from the Department...

CARBONDALE - Adrienne Davis graduated from Carbondale's Roaring Fork High School in 1999. She is now a teacher at Edwards Elementary School where in a few years all the classes will be taught in both Spanish and English. Starting this fall, all kindergarten classes will be dual language. And as those classes move up, eventually the entire school will be bilingual. It is a solution that is working in Edwards, Davis said, where formerly about 80 percent of the kids in the elementary school were Hispanic. "It is definitely a positive thing," Davis said. "The kids are all playing together....

JONESBORO, Ga. – A school board has voted to open a public elementary school where students will be taught to be equally proficient in English and Spanish by fifth grade. Unidos Dual Language Charter School, which is scheduled to open next fall, is believed to be the first of its kind in the state. It won't target the immigrant community by teaching English as a second language, but aims to teach both languages together to classes equally divided between English- and Spanish-native speakers. "They're able to learn a language in very natural ways," said DeeAnn Dozier, the Clayton County schools...