Jamaica’s Education Minister Honourable Reverend Ronald Thwaites is currently working to improve the country’s foreign language curriculum. Thwaites explained that the “new assessments will be based on new attainment targets, which will involve speaking, reading, writing and listening with understanding. We will soon be able to dream in Spanish and the other languages as well.”
According to Thwaits, Jamaican students who learn a second language will have access to a multitude of scholarship and employment opportunities offered both locally and internationally. The improved curriculum will also allow Jamaican students to connect with others outside their own culture.
Thwaites explained “our challenge is to break out of the arrogance of English. We believe that everyone must speak our language, without recognizing that out own opportunity, personally and nationally, is to be as flexible as possible in the development of a knowledge economy, which no longer has just French and Spanish roots, but also must include European and Asian languages.”
The appeal was also addressed to Jamaican teachers, encouraging them to involve their students in foreign languages to expand their perception of the world. Foreign leaders and educators were also welcomed to visit the country’s schools to inform students of the foreign language traditions and cultures of these countries.
“Teachers, we must begin to educate our people to seek these broader horizons that are available. There is a need to equip ourselves of as many foreign languages as possible, as this will help us to gain employment within the Caribbean and beyond its shores,” Thwaites emphasized.
A reading program project designed to support reading skills for primary school students will also be expanded with new reading techniques and performance standards.
Creative Commons Love: David Salafia on flickr.com
Written by Rachel Pozivenec