Iftikhar

Established 1981
London School of Islamics
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
Email: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667

Bilingualism

Bilingual education is a human and civil right. Being bilingual and bi-cultural is an important resource in today’s global economy and the British government should be encouraging this rather than suppressing it. It is crucial that children feel secure in their bilingual identity. A research project at the Institute of Education, University of London, shows that five and six years olds cope well with biliteracy and gain advantages from it. If young people see their community language and culture is valued, they will feel integrated INTO phpbb_British society. There is a great demand for individuals fluent in English and mother tongues by educational institutions, TV Channel, radio stations and service industries.

Bilingualism has positive effects on children’s linguistic and educational development. The level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development. Mother tongue promotion in the school helps develop not only the mother tongue but also children abilities in the majority school language. Spending instructional time through minority language in the school does not hurt children’s academic development in the majority school language. When parent’s culture are recognized by the school, their interest and involvement in the curriculum often increase dramatically.

Children’s mother tongue is fragile and easily lost in the early years of school. Language lies at the heart of any culture. The different languages spoken provide clear links with the family and community traditions which enrich British culture. To reject a child’s language in the school is to reject a child. Children cultural and linguistic experience in the home is the foundation of their future learning and we must build on that foundation rather than undermine it. Increased cultural and language awareness could help to combat hooliganism.

Languages, by virtue of their direct contribution to economic competitiveness, intercultural tolerance and social cohesion, should have the status of a key skill alongside literacy, numeracy and ICT. The government should establish a national strategy for developing capability in languages and a system capable of supporting such a strategy. A language supremo should be attached to the cabinet office and have direct access to the Prime Minister. He should persuade the notoriously monolingual British to learn a language. New languages supremo must persuade reluctant Brits to speak something other than English. British society is already a multilingual society. The first wave of immigrants arrived with two or three languages from the sub-continent but its young generation is unable to feel pride in its mother tongue. The government should declare a firm commitment to early language learning for all children at age five. The key to success in business, the law and politics in the future will be the mastry of at least one foreign language. Knowledge of more than one language demonstrates that a candidate has the ability to think across cultural boundaries. Bilingualism enhances children’s development.
Iftikhar Ahmad

gareth2

I hear MI5 is looking for Arabic and other muslim language speakers especially.

Regards,
Gareth.

Ref;

http://www.mi5careers.co.uk/pages/jobs_linguists.asp

Edit; I dont know if anyone has told you this before, but it has long been a British custom to say a cheery hello, and at least make a stab (no pun intended) at getting to know the other readers and thier opinions, before copying and pasting your organisations pronouncements. (you may note for example, that this is a politics forum, and not a mosque, so it helps to show your capacity for independant thought if you want to get a point across, which copy and paste doesnt quite manage.)

FuroraCeltica

Ifty, or whatever your called,

With all due respect, if all your going to do is post a "copy/paste" of your organisations latest demands, then could you do it somehwere else? This website is where people have debates and discussion, not a place where we post dictates.

__________________
Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption. John Stuart Mill

One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests. Stuart Mill

John Carter

The London School Of Islamics has been posting messages similar to these on all remotely political forums for at least the last three years (even music sites where the band has a bit of a political stance).

When they say "bilingual" they mean "English and Arabic", not something useful like "English and Spanish" or "English and Mandarin". It's so your kids can all read the koran and convert.

It's cultural invasion spam folks. Ignore it.

gareth2

Ok guys, i am serious. If you know of ANY other forum that has had this message posted there, please put the URL here and i will visit there and every single one, and post up the counter view.

This has just gone too far.

Regards,
Gareth.

John Carter

Unfortunately, the ones I'm referring to have been reset since their LSoI posts. Anthony may remember one of them, as it's a forum for one of his favourite bands... http://www.newmodelarmy.org

(don't bother going to look - the old forum collapsed due to technical difficulties and it's a completely different one now - the old messages were lost about a year ago).

John Carter

But then again you can just type
"Bilingual education is a human and civil right"

INTO phpbb_http://www.google.co.uk, click "from the UK" and you'll get a fair few hits which mention the LSoI.

John Carter

Here's Iftikhar posting the same propaganda (identical post) in June 2003:

http://www.letsfixbritain.com/cgi-bi...rum=1&topic=36

Hudson

I wonder...
Could our prolific poster be copying and pasting articles because he doesn't actually speak any English? Is he even in London? Might an IP check reveal an internet cafe in Lahore? Or maybe Iraq? Perhaps this is part of the 'loyalty test' for certain groups' recruitment campaigns? :?:

gareth2

Thats wonderfull news and ideas John i have flicked the red switch in my head marked "crafty b*gger, emergencies only" and will think some more about this.

Have a nice day

Regards,
Gareth.