Nakasuk School opts for bilingual education model

SARA MINOGUE

Nakasuk elementary school in Iqaluit is getting ready to revamp the way it teaches Inuktitut and English to children from kindergarten to Grade 5.

On Jan. 31, staff invited parents to a half-day meeting where all agreed that the school should move away from the abrupt switch from all-Inuktitut classes for the first four years of schooling, and embrace a bilingual education model proposed by the department of education in fall 2004.

At that meeting, they struck a parent-teacher bilingual education committee that will further research the three bilingual language of instruction models, and seek input from parents, with the aim of selecting a bilingual education model by spring.

Right now, students at Nakasuk start in either the Inuktitut stream or the English stream. Inuktitut stream students learn only in Inuktitut from kindergarten to Grade 3. They get their first taste of English in Grade 4, and by Grade 5, are learning mostly in English with only a small amount of Inuktitut.

But school principal Carol Horn says that this method amounts to what other school districts have called “subtractive bilingualism.” In other words, students leave one language behind in order to learn a new language.

“Every piece of literature on this says that having one language, your first language, strong, is really important, and then from that set of skills you build another language,” Horn said.

And that’s what Nakasuk School hopes to do next year.

In the bilingual model, Inuktitut stream students start their learning mainly in Inuktitut. English-as-a-second-language is introduced as early as Grade 1, and the amount of time that English is spoken gradually increases, until students in Grade 3 are speaking English about 40 per cent of the time, and students in Grade 4 spend an equal amount of time in both languages.

The model then reverses in higher grades, where students continue to study Inuktitut at least part of the time, while learning most of their subjects in English.

Bilingual education should help reduce the “shock” that some children get when they reach Grade 5 and are told they have the literacy level, in English, of a Grade 1 student, Horn said.

“It was really humiliating for some kids.”

Research also shows, Horn said, that it takes six or seven years to develop literacy in a second language.

So far, a elementary bilingual education model has been successful at Alookie School in Pangnirtung, where parents and teachers chose to introduce it about five years ago.

“The mandate is to teach English-as-a-second-language from Grade 1,” said principal Lena Metuq. “That’s what the parents wanted.”

Students in Pangnirtung get increasing amounts of ESL classes each year, until they are prepared for junior high, where most of their teachers will be English speaking. Alookie students also get weekly “ESL enrichment classes,” which Metuq teaches.

“It’s a lot easier to teach English sometimes if you can go back to Inuktitut if they don’t understand the English part,” Metuq said.

So far, the results are promising. Alookie School has kept track of their students when they move on to Attagoyuk School.

“We’ve been finding when their Inuktitut is strong — both oral and writing and reading — that it’s easier for them to grasp English, by the time they are in the other school,” Metuq said.

In addition to improved literacy in both languages, Horn expects that a successful bilingual education model will encourage more parents to choose the Inuktitut language stream for their kids.

Nakasuk School presently has 194 students in the English stream, and 145 in the Inuktitut stream.

Horn said she is concerned that some parents are choosing the English stream for their kids believing it is the only way they will become competent in English.

“We’d like them to trust this new model, so that children don’t have to leave their Inuktitut behind to develop good English,” Horn said. “So that it’s not an either/or choice, which is how some parents feel about it right now.”

Next year, Nakasuk also plans to introduce an “immersion stream” for parents who want their kids to go to school in Inuktitut, but whose children do not speak the language fluently. Right now, the school has several children entering its Inuktitut stream who don’t actually speak the language — which makes teachers’ jobs harder, while not necessarily benefiting the kids.

Students in the new immersion stream will work on oral Inuktitut skills first, and then learn to read and write. According to Horn, these children won’t fall behind even if they learn to read and write later then their peers, because they will be developing language skills orally.

“By Grade 3 they’ll all be at the same level because that’s what research tells us: it doesn’t matter when you start to read, as long as you get started on it by age eight or nine, you’ll be able to do it.”

There is no set deadline for schools to choose their language of instruction model. At present, only one District Education Authority has informed the education department of their plans, an education department spokesperson said.
The education department’s language of instruction steering committee meets this week to discuss suggested procedures for DEAs, schools and parents choosing the language of instruction model in their community.