Finnish teachers are
highly trained professionals. Since they have strong professional autonomy,
they need to undergo high training level (Finnish National Board of Education
(FNBE), n.d.-a, para.1). Further, it is strongly believed in Finland that
pre-service teacher education is “the most important arena for developing
professional knowledge” (Afdal, 2012, p.169). Hence, this essay will first present
how teacher education policy originated and developed in Finland. Next, it will
turn to how student teachers are normally selected and how initial Finnish
teacher education is being implemented. Then, the author will make a brief
explanation of teacher recruitment and in-service teacher training that were
covered by one of the group members during the seminar presentation, before
concluding the essay.
One of the aims
of the Australian national language policy is to support Indigenous language
programs or to support the formal instruction of Indigenous languages in
schools in Australia (Our Languages, 2016a, para.3). However, there seems to be
occasional inconsistencies with this aim if the past practices of the
Australian government are scrutinized. Bilingual education programs have been
among the most significant Indigenous language programs in Australia. In this
essay, the focus will be on bilingual education programs undertaken by the
Indigenous people in Northern Territory. The essay will start with the
definition of the term “bilingual education”, followed by an overview of the
origin and development of bilingual education policy in Australia and Northern
Territory. Next, it will discuss how education leaders in Northern Territory
implicated the bilingual education policy and occasional pressures on it. Then,
the consequences of this policy initiative on the current contexts of Northern
Territory with an emphasis on its impact on the NT curriculum and alternative
future directions for positive conditions for bilingual education will be
analysed before concluding the essay.
The definition of bilingual education and a
description of BE programs
Since the focus
of this essay will be mainly associated with the term “bilingual education”
(BE), it is deemed appropriate to define BE, discuss the main features of BE
and present relevant BE programs in Northern Territory in this section.
It’s obvious that knowing more than one language can make certain things easier — like traveling or watching movies without subtitles. But are there other advantages to having a bilingual (or multilingual) brain? Mia Nacamulli details the three types of bilingual brains and shows how knowing more than one language keeps your brain healthy, complex and actively engaged.
Lesson by Mia Nacamulli, animation by TED-Ed.]
.
¿Hablas español? Parlez-vous français?
你会说中文吗？
If you answered, "sí," "oui," or "会"
and you're watching this in English,
chances are you belong to the world's
bilingual and multilingual majority.
And besides having
an easier time traveling
or watching movies without subtitles,
knowing two or more languages
means that your brain
may actually look and work differently
than those of your monolingual friends.
So what does it really
mean to know a language?
Language ability is typically measured
in two active parts, speaking and writing,
and two passive parts,
listening and reading.
While a balanced bilingual has near equal
abilities across the board
in two languages,
most bilinguals around the world
know and use their languages
This relatively short but highly informative video clip present a comprehensive picture of how the Allied Forces took back Burma (now known as Myanmar) from the hands of the Japanese during the World War II.
