Essay

Has the National Bilinguism Plan been a success in rural schools? Why?: a six year experience.

One of the main objectives of the National Development Plan 2014-2018 in Colombia is to

promote equality, peace and education (Ministerio de Educacin Nacional, 2016). Subsequently,

one of the means whereby the government is trying to accomplish this goal is through the

Ministry of Education (MOE) that in their right to establish policies regarding their vision of

Colombia la ms Educada has set ambitious objectives as Colombia Bilinge .

The government of Colombia has made significant investments in the National Bilingual Plan

(NBP), especially in the program Colombia Very Well (). According to statistics (Colombia

Very Well), five hundred thousand millions Colombian pesos had been invested only in teachers

of English. However, the Ministry of Education argued that with that investment students were

not learning english and achieving the desired goals. That is why it was decided that the

investment would increase in a 20% from then on over a period of ten years, reaching the amount

of one thousand three hundred billions Colombian pesos.

Although the term bilingualism is something that we take for granted, based on my

experience, the majority of people position themselves in regard to being bilingual in a

continuum that goes from A1 to C2. In Colombia the general idea is that a person who is situated

at the C2 end of the continuum is a person who has succeeded as a proficient English speaker.

On the other hand, those who reach levels near the A1 end of the continuum are seen as a failure.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educacin Nacional, 2016)

bilingualism refers to the different levels of proficiency whereby a person can communicate in

more than one language and culture. In this case, and for the purposes of the Ministry of
Education, bilingualism takes the form of a foreign language, that is, a language that is not

spoken in the immediate and local setting. In this case, daily social conditions do not require

permanent use of the language for communication. So, it would be interesting to ask why all this

bilingualism fever if there is not a permanent use? Why all this investment if outcomes are not as

expected?

Since bilingualism as defined by the documents issued by the Ministry of Education seems to fall

short. It is important to have a clear idea of what bilingualism is, what it entails, in order to

outline possible drawbacks and strengths in the implementation of programs such as Bilingual

Colombia.

There are many definitions of bilingualism but it is out of the scope of this paper to try to include

and give the attention they deserve. So, for the purposes of this paper, Grosjean (1996), rejecting

the idea of a bilingual person as two monolinguals in one body, alternatively proposes a holistic

view of bilingualism. In Gorsjeans view, bilingualism is not appraised in terms of monolingual

standards. This means that being bilingual is not having both languages at the same level of

mastery and with different linguistic structures but instead both languages interact and influence

each other .

Bilingualism in rural schools: positive aspects and drawbacks

Rural contexts have specific characteristics that should be taken into account when trying to

implement changes. Rodriguez (2012) states that due to the context, several variables may

influence the teaching and learning of a foreign language However, it is important to clarify that

my claims about rural schools are supported mainly by my experience and a few references that

could be found in the literature that help me characterize this context.

Whenever I am asked about what it is like to work in a rural school, I do my best in trying to

give a positive impression of this kind of settings. And the truth is that, in reality, despite all the

constraints and limitations one may encounter, it is a pleasure to find peace in a place given the

reality of most public schools in Colombia where the average of students per classroom ranges

from 30 to 40 and teachers are practically limited to four walls. Overcrowding is not a problem

in rural schools, nor does one find disrespect or violence as you may encounter in urban settings.

In fact, one of the main characteristics of rural students is that they are rarely taken into account

in important decision about education. The rural student is characterized by his passivity in

regards to what is happening around them.

Perhaps, and to start with, one of the main problems in implementing a bilingual program in a

Colombian rural school is the importance for them to learn a foreign language. Crdenas (2006)

shows her concern about to what extent the implementation of bilingualism has considered those

areas where English is not a priority, e.g. rural areas. Similarly, Nieto (as cited in Feldman, 2002)

and Feldman (2002) state that students voices and especially those of disempowered and

dominated communities are rarely taken into account in discussions about solving educational

problems.

Trying to adapt a model of bilingualism that comes from Europe is a utopian task since

similarities between contexts are practically non-existent and the purposes by which the

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was created were different

(Sanchez & Obarto, 2008). In this way, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity (a

characteristic of Latin American countries) is somehow disregarded. Regarding this, Bohn

(2003) affirms that English language learning, local identity and different Latin American
economies have been engulfed by globalization and thus language teaching policies must be

based under principles of difference (Bohn, 2000).

Although it seems that the use of the CEFR was deliberately imposed by the effect of

globalization, evidence shows that the government considered the implementation of models

from USA, Canada, Ireland, Spain and Australia but finally decided to use the CEFR because it

was the one that best suited the Colombian context (Meja, 2011). But, How can all these

arguments affect a rural school? Well, as it was stated above a rural school has special

characteristics within a local context (Colombia). If we were to compare a Colombian rural

school with a urban one, one immediately realize of all the disadvantages teachers and students

have (resources, infrastructure, location, low income etc). The point is that, if the implementation

of the CEFR is certainly problematic for a regular school in Colombia (Ayala & Alvarez 2005;

Crdenas 2006; Gonzalez 2007. Cited in Meja, 2011), to my view, the future for rural school is

very obscure.

Moreover, Meja (2011) states that through the implementation of this European model, local

school systems have been given the appearance of being internationally competitive. In fact, I

have evidenced that rural students feel behind as to being part of the opportunities provided for

those who learn English with the argument that it will insert the citizen in the global economy

(Ministerio de Educacin Nacional, 2016) or with the idea that it will facilitate educational and

occupational mobility (Crdenas, 2006). The above mentioned disadvantages are to my view

some of the main constraints to learn, not even a language, but anything. Therefore, Who would

like to spend hours of hard work, invest in materials and stop doing something else when it is

evident that learning a second language, namely english, is not profitable or meaningful for

them?
The truth is, as stated by Herazo (2012), that the current conditions in regards to labor market

demands, intercultural and interlingual contact provide little opportunity and incentive to

advance bilingualism in Colombia as it was envisioned in the NBP.

Being a little more optimistic, in 2016, the Ministry of Education issued a document called

suggested curricular structure (SCS) which provides the educational community with

guidelines for the implementation of Bilingualism from 6 to 11 grade. The relevance of this, is

that unlike the document Basic Foreign Language Competence Standards: English (2006)

issued in 2006, the SCS acknowledges the importance of contextual factors by saying: We value

and understand the demographic, cultural and social diversity of our country (ministerio );

aspects that were previously criticized and that personally, as a rural teacher, I appreciate.

The SCS guidelines make emphasis in a communicative approach and also it proposes learner-

centered activities based on tasks, projects and problem solving methods. This, with the

argument that this model is more likely to be contextualized and adapted to the specific

characteristics of learners and teachers from different regions and realities in Colombia

(ministerio).

However, this new view raises some questions regarding more variables such as: What does the

implementation of learner-centered activities based on tasks, projects and problem solving

methods entail? Are teachers ready for the change? Why are primary levels excluded? Is the

initial 1.3 billion pesos investment enough or unnecessary? Questions that deserve special

attention but that due to restriction of space will be slightly addressed.

Regarding the aforementioned concerns, from experience, I have to say that teacher preparation

has been reduced to a three-day immersion program with foreign people (not teachers) who are

going to teach teachers how to improve communicative skills. Sanchez & Obando (2008),
worried about the fact that people who are not foreign language teachers are giving classes state

that language teaching comprises many aspects such as psychology, sociolinguistics, linguistics

and second language acquisition which a real teacher should know. Moreover, Bremmer ()

suggests that changing from a teacher-centered approach to a learner- centered one is a difficult

process that may take a lot of time due to it is not only about changing practices but also beliefs

about education. In the same view, Humphries & Burns () claim that when there is a strong

clash between teachers own beliefs and those underlying a curriculum innovation, teachers are

likely to reject change.

Another challenge for rural schools, is that due to policies in public education, schools require a

certain number of students to hire one teacher. The consequence is that since rural schools do not

have a considerable amount of students, sometimes there are not enough teachers for all the

subjects. So much so that I have to teach arts, computing, ethics (besides english); leaving me no

time to properly focus on my area. Another example is that before my arrival to my two previous

jobs, english was taught by teachers of Spanish. The point is that, the amount of 1.3 billion pesos

investment in bilingualism was not considered to cover the demand of english teachers in public

rural schools. That situation leads me to question the term quality in education.

Turning positive again, rural schools do not often suffer from one of the main problems

Colombian schools face: large-sized classes (Sanchez & Obando, ). However, thanks to policies,

when the number of students decreases to less than 27 per group, two different grades must be

joined in one class. Now, there is not only a problem of overcrowded classrooms but also mixed-

level classes.

Finally I would like to address another drawbacks related to the policy that requires a certain

amount of students to hire one teacher. The first one is that exposure to language is not enough.
In my case (and many colleagues), out my 22 hours of teaching a , only twelve are devoted to

teach english in six grades. The remaining 10 hours must be used to cover the missing teachers

subjects. In this view, Lightbown & Spada (1999) suggest that one or two hours a week are not

enough to dominate the language (even in eight years).

The second drawback is that there are not guidelines for the implementation of bilingualism in

elementary levels (Sanchez & Obando). But even worse, rural schools use the model new

school which requires teachers to teach from kindergarten to fifth grade in one classroom at the

same time.

As a conclusion, the implementation of the NBL has been so far very obscure and with poor

results, especially for rural schools. The governments optimistic view of Bilingualism in

Colombia must be questioned regarding the conditions of specific contexts. The inclusion of the

opinion of rural communities in the designing and implementation of educational policies is not

clear. As Cardenas (2006) states, contextual variables such as infrastructure, curriculum

organization, use of foreign languages in the academic and cultural domains of the country,

working hours and competences of language teachers must be contrasted with the reality

established in the CEFR.

I strongly believe that teachers who work under special conditions must be included when

problematizing educational issues in the country. In the same position Sanchez & Obando ()

claim policies are created in a top-down approach and only few people know what should be

done and why.

As a hopeful view and , I want to highlight how professional development programs have

emphasized the need of a critical view of education (Ortega, 2014) leading teachers to a series of

educational concepts and pedagogically informed proposals that take into account the relation
between politics and education and particularly emancipatory practices urgently needed in

disempowered communities as the rural ones.