tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post8631673751372180698..comments2023-05-27T12:03:28.241+01:00Comments on Five Chinese Crackers: English is a second language for 1 in 7 pupils. In primary schools. In England. Oh, and nearly half of them are in London.Five Chinese Crackershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09395982651352498540noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-61582483752746095442009-03-24T17:22:00.000+00:002009-03-24T17:22:00.000+00:00Cheers Dunc. We know that - but we're cynics....Cheers Dunc. <em>We</em> know that - but we're cynics. Or something.Five Chinese Crackershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09395982651352498540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-27782628209642332992009-03-24T15:51:00.000+00:002009-03-24T15:51:00.000+00:00But isn't it the job of newspapers to report t...<i>But isn't it the job of newspapers to report the news?</i><br><br>Aaah-hahahahahahahahaha! <br><br>No. The job of newspapers is to make money. They do this primarily by selling advertising space.<br><br>It's a common misconception. In fact, the idea that the job of newspapers is to report the news is simply part of <i>their</i> advertising, and no more reliable that the claims made by any other advert.Duncnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-41562796506370697102009-03-22T09:32:00.000+00:002009-03-22T09:32:00.000+00:00"They were quite capable of switching between..."They were quite capable of switching between the two, and in most cases, were born in the UK"<br><br>Accords exactly with my experience in London - a large number of (5 year old) son's friends have at least one foreign-born parent, usually European. One of his best mates speaks Dutch. Two of his classmates at school were apparently swapping bits of Punjabi and Spanish a few months back. None of them has the slightest problem with English, and why would they? <br><br>Somehow I get the impression it's not nice middle class parents who happen to be born in Europe that the Mail wants us to worry about, but from my experience in London they're a significant proportion of the total.<br><br>His teacher is from New Zealand.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02938347648935528029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-19898521419879693482009-03-20T10:34:00.000+00:002009-03-20T10:34:00.000+00:00I did some research at a primary school in Birming...I did some research at a primary school in Birmingham about the language spoken by the pupils, and as it was a predominantly Asian area, the children spoke an Asian language at home, and then English at school. They were quite capable of switching between the two, and in most cases, were born in the UK. <br><br>It's rather like a colleague of mine who was born in Wales, and didn't learn English until she started school. Now that there's a rise in Welsh-speakers, the "English isn't their native language" debate (ahem... I use that term loosely) doesn't just include "foreign" languages. How many of the "non-native English speakers" are in fact Welsh-speakers? Or even Gaelic-speakers? However, I don't even expect the Daily Fail to point that out because white British types who are non-native English speakers does kind of mess with their "we hate Johnny Foreigner" axe grinding.Helen Highwaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087854313840436307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-45345617054975719252009-03-20T09:48:00.000+00:002009-03-20T09:48:00.000+00:00Sorry for this unrelated comment (you have no cont...Sorry for this unrelated comment (you have no contact details as far as I can see). Got a door to door caller here the other day (village near Huddersfield) trying to get me to subscribe to deliveries of THE DAILY MAIL c/o my local Spa. He began by asking me what paper I read. Discovering I was a Guardian reader, he explained that the powers above had told him G readers almost never switch to The Mail, thanked me for my time, and left.Yakoubhttp://www.bayyinat.org.uk/index.htmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21544361.post-64532810715420397062009-03-19T21:49:00.000+00:002009-03-19T21:49:00.000+00:00Excellent analysis as usual. I notice that Mac als...Excellent analysis as usual. I notice that Mac also does a cartoon on this story as well. I still maintain that Mac's cartoons against foreigners could have the characters changed to Jews and would not look out of place in 1930s Germany.uponnothinghttp://uponnothing.myopenid.com/noreply@blogger.com