Linguistic & Cultural Diversity

Major Metropolitan Centres - 2006

• Melbourne – 28.90%

• Sydney – 31.70%

• Los Angeles – 34.70%

• Miami – 35.50%

• Vancouver – 39.60%

• Toronto – 45.70%

They’re Young!

• They will learn quickly and easily.

The Language Learning Myth

• Younger learners are better than adult learners.

• Not true - young learners usually have better learning environments.

• Adults are better at grammar.

• Young learners are better at pronunciation.

A Study (Gunderson, 2007)

• 24,894 immigrant students who arrived in one school district

LANGUAGE COUNTRY # OF SPEAKERSACHOLI KENYA 2AFGHANI AFGANISTAN 5AFRIKAANS SOUTH AFRICA 5AKAN GHANA 1ALBANIAN ALBANIA 3ALGERIAN ALGERIA 1AMHARIC ETHIOPIA 37ARABIC-ASARI SAUDI ARABIA/ME 94ARMENIAN ARMENIA 3ASSAMESE INDIA 1ASSYRIAN IRAQ 2BAHASA INDONESIA 31BANGLA BANGLADESH 1BEMBA ZAMBIA 2BENGALI INDIA 43BICOLONO PHILIPPINES 10BISAYA PHILIPPINES 2BOSNIAN-CROATIAN

BOSNIA 23

BRONG GHANA 1

Frequencies of Languages and Countries of Origin

BULGARIAN BULGARIA 40BURMESE BURMA 8

BUSANGA GHANA 3CAMBODIAN CAMBODIA 30CANTONESE HONG KONG, PRC 9106CEBUANO PHILIPPINES 11CHALDEAN IRAQ 9CHIARATI INDIA 1CHIUCHOW VIETNAM 5CREOLE HAITI 4CROATIAN CROATIA 37CZECH CZECHOSLOVAKIA 40DANISH DENMARK 10DARI AFGANISTAN 21DUTCH THE NETHERLANDS 15EGYPTIAN EGYPT 2ENGLISH US, UK, AUS. NZ 997EWE GHANA 1

FARSI IRAN/ME 129FIJIAN FIJI 8FILIPINO PHILIPPINES 7FINNISH FINLAND 18FOOCHOW EAST CENTRAL CHINA 17FOOKIEN/FUKIEN CHINA 52FRENCH FRANCE/EAST CANADA 126GEORGIAN INDONESIA 1GERMAN GERMANY 47GREEK GREECE/GREEK ISLES 29GUJARATI INDIA 30HAINANESE MALAYSIA 12HAKKA CHINA, SINGAPORE 65HAUSA NIGERIA 1HARARI NIGERIA 2

HEBREW ISRAEL 61HENGHUN MALAYSIA 1HILIGAYNON PHILIPPINES 1HINDI INDIA 335HOCKCHEW CHINA 3HOKKIEN MALAYSIA 45HUNAN TAIWAN/VIETNAM 4HUNGARIAN HUNGARY 9ICELANDIC ICELAND 9ILOCANO PHILIPPINES 42INDONESIAN (BAHASA) INDONESIA 26IRANIAN IRAN 9ITALIAN ITALY 22JAPANESE JAPAN 520KAJAI BRUNEI 1KANJOBAL CENTRAL

AMERICA1

KHEH THAILAND 27KHMER CAMBODIA 108KISWAHILI AFRICA 6KOREAN KOREA 605KURDISH IRAQ/ME 123LAO LAOS/SEA 8LEBANESE LEBANON 1LATVIAN LATVIA 1LUGANDA UGANDA 1LUKONZO UGANDA 1MALAY MALAYSIA 12

MALAYALAM INDIA 1MALTESE MALTA 6MANDARIN TAIWAN/CHINA/

SEA3882

MARATHI INDIA 3MEMON UNKNOWN 1MIHAHASA INDONESIA 1NDEBELE ZIMBABWE 1NEPALI NEPAL 2NUER ETHIOPIA 1NORWEGIAN NORWAY 10OGANDIAN SOMALIA 1OROMIFFA ETHIOPIA 3OROMO ETHIOPIA 4PAMPANGO PAPUA NEW

GUINEA4

PANGASIAN PHILIPPINES 1PERSIAN IRAN/ME 134POJULU SUDAN 1POLISH POLAND 416PONGWLI CHINA 2PORTUGUESE PORTUGAL 114PUNJABI INDIA 550PUSHTU AFGHANISTAN 14ROMANIAN ROMANIA 139RUSANGA GHANA 1RUSSIAN RUSSIA 245SAHO ETHIOPIA 3SANISH SAUDI ARABIA 1

SENA MOZAMBIQUE 4SERBIAN YUGOSLAVIA 1SERBO-CROATIAN YUGOSLAVIA 249SESOTHO LESOTHO 1SHANGHAINESE CHINA 2SHILLUK SUDAN 3SHONA SIMBABWE

(ZIMBABWE)2

SINHALA SRI LANKA 17SLOVAK CZECHOSLOVAKIA 27SOMALI SOMALIA 108SPANISH SPAIN/C.& S.

AMERICA1327

SUNWOO CHINA 1SWAHILI KENYA 1SWEDISH SWEDEN 19SWISS SWITZERLAND 1TAGALOG PHILIPPINES 1091TAIWANESE TAIWAN 105TAMIL SRI LANKA/INDIA 93TAOSAI CHINA 2TEOCHEW SINGAPORE 23THAI THAILAND 21TIGRINIA ETHIOPIA 29TIV NIGERIA 5TONGAN ZAMBIA 1TURKISH TURKEY 13TWI GHANA 12UKRANIAN UKRAINE 32

URDU PAKISTAN 58

VIETNAMESE VIETNAM 1960YANPING CHINA 6YORUBA NIGERIA 1YUGOSLAVIAN YUGOSLAVIA 5ZAMBUANGAN PHILIPPINES 1ZULU SWAZILAND 1UNKNOWN    

A Study of Secondary Students

• 5,000 randomly selected English speakers

• 5,000 randomly selected ESL students

Grading RubricGrade Conversions

A = 4.00A- = 3.75B+ = 3.50B = 3.00B- = 2.75C+ = 2.50C = 2.00C- = 1.75D+ = 1.50D = 1.00D- = .75F = 0.00P = 1.00SG = 1.00

Canadian Grades

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

Grade Level

Gra

de P

oint

Ave

rage

English

SocStds

Science

Math

Immigrant Students

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de

Po

int A

vera

ge

English

Math

Science

Soc Stds

Mandarin Speakers

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de

Po

int

Ave

rag

e

English

Math

Science

Soc Stds

Cantonese Speakers

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de

Po

int A

vera

ge

English

Math

Science

Soc Stds

Vietnamese Speakers

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de P

oint

Ave

rage

English

Math

Science

Soc Stds

Students from India

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de P

oint

Ave

rage

English

Math

Science

Soc Stds

Students from the Philippines

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de P

oint

Ave

rage

English

Soc Stds

Math

Science

Spanish Speakers

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Gra

de P

oint

Ave

rage

English

SocStds

Science

Math

Eighteen Secondary Schools

Disappearing Students

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12

Grade Level

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

English

Math

Science

Social Studies

Socio-economic Status

• Family’s ability to scaffold

• Tutors