English lessons at school...?

[A74]

My little girl will start at school this autumn, and as she is bilingual norwegian-english I was wondering whether she has the right to special english lessons at school. Does anyone know anything about this/have any experience of bilingual children starting school?

[Anonym bruker]

I think she does have the right, but not necessarily at her school, she can be told to go to another one that has other english speakers. However, they do start normal english lessons in first grade, so a better choice might be to ask if those lessons can be tweaked to her knowledge level.

[Anonym bruker]

My child is only 3 years old, but i've already done some research on this. I've checked regulations (opplæringslova med forskrifter) and some written information brochures from the county health stations. The right to special education in english is connected to her level of norwegian. If she speaks norwegian "fluently" she does not have the right to any special lessons in english. It seems very strict:( and not very openminded:(

[shari_z]

As far as I understand it, she does not have the right to English lessons if she is fluent in Norwegian. "Morsmålundervisning" is designed to help students who have *not* mastered Norwegian (well enough) to learn subjects they otherwise would not, if it weren't for the morsmålundervisning. And this special teaching is *only* until the child is fluent in Norwegian and able to understand the lessons (math, history, science, etc) in Norwegian without it being translated to their native language. (As an example, a child whose native language is German and who has just moved to Norway would get help to understand math until the child mastered Norwegian, at which point "morsmålundervisning" would stop.)

 

My daughter is also bilingual and is in second grade. I say she is bilingual, and she is, but Norwegian is clearly her native language, although I got constant feedback from the barnehage and helsestasjon that her Norwegian was not good enough. (It was.) She has had no special training in English at school, nor has her teacher given her more work to bring the English lessons up to her level. The teacher has allowed Clara to answer a lot of questions and help the other students, though, with regard to English. I do wish, though, that she could have learned English as a native language, not as a foreign language. I see now that there is a difference, even though they start learning English in first grade. Oh well, at least she is learning it. At home, she wouldn't have started a foreign language at all until sixth grade, so the system here is quite good, actually.

 

I don't know where you are from, but they do teach British English in the schools. I am American, and the teacher is very careful that the children use British pronounciation, words and grammar, so that when I have been to the class to speak English to them as a native, she then corrects everything I said "wrong" (in American English) so that the children learn it "right" (in British English). It rather aggravates me, to be honest, since I *am* a native speaker, and there are plenty of native speakers in the world who speak just like me. On the other hand, I think British accents are charming and would have loved it if my daughter spoke with it, but she doesn't and I doubt that will change at this point.

[eande]

I had been wondering the same thing. We moved to Norway from the states when my daughter was 4 and my son 15 months. Obviously, the both spoke english as that is their native language. They both speak fluent english and with a southern accent (which i love!) My concern was with my daughter starting 1st grade and not knowing norwegian. I decided to put them both in barnehage. My son was 2 and my daughter was 3 months shy of turning 5. It was very easy for them to fall right in. I honestly can say that they came home 30 days later and were speaking fluent norwegian. AMAZING! Now that my daughter is in 1st grade (and they are teaching english) my fear is that she will be taught to try and speak british english. We only speak english at home and nothing has changed in my daughters pronounciation and I hope it doesn't! Much to her dismay, we have her do her homework in both english and norwegian. We also have her read and write in both languages. I don't want her to stray from english and depend on the school to teach her something she already knows, so I must be the one to keep her (and my son) up on it. Even at almost 4 years old, my son is doing great with both languages. I am amazed at how well small children do! I think I'm going to start teaching them more Spanish. Now is the time! I am grateful that they spoke english BEFORE norwegian.

 

Good luck to you and I think it will work out. Children will surprise you with their intelligence )