London is the most diverse city in the world, with hundreds of different languages spoken by Londoners.
White Hart Lane Secondary School (equivalent to High School in the US) in Tottenham, North London (near Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane soccer stadium) has 59 languages spoken by its pupils -
Now mind your language
By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Political Editor
THE head of a secondary school where pupils speak 59 foreign languages has ordered that ALL lessons are taught in English.
Turkish children at White Hart Lane School had been taught GCSE science in their mother tongue — and there were plans to extend bilingual classes to Somali.
But new head Joan McVittie has insisted that English-only teaching at the mixed comprehensive in Tottenham, North London, would be better for the youngsters in the long run.
She said last night: “The issue is that these children are new learners. They will have to live and work in London and need to be able to speak English at a high level of competence.
“If you are learning so many new words in science, why not learn them in English?”
Mrs VcVittie added: “The outcome doesn’t justify the resources input. It is very, very costly.”
She has also brought back extra revision and coursework during school holidays and after hours — and has demanded pupils stick to the uniform code.
More than 70 per cent of White Hart Lane’s 1,000-plus kids have English as a second language.
The 11 to 18-year-olds speak everything from Albanian to Ukrainian. And the staff hail from 33 countries.
The bilingual scheme was introduced in 2001 by then-headteacher David Daniels.
Stephen Twigg, Education Minister at the time, said it was “very much the kind of good practice we want to promote”.
But Mrs McVittie’s U-turn was praised by the Tories last night.
Shadow Education Secretary David Willetts said: “English is the universal language in the modern world. It makes good sense for pupils to learn in English, particularly in subjects like science.”
Kids at the school speak the following languages -
Amheric
Italian Somali
Thai
Otomo
Hindi
Farsi
Russia
Triginya
Gujarati
Spanish
Swahili
German
Mandarin
Arabic
Punjabi
Somali
Ugandian
Albanian
Urdu
Spanish
Vietnamese
French
Lingala
Latvian
Luganda
Sylheti
Turkish
Kurdish
Mauritian
Greek
Bengali
Baluchi
Yoruba
Malay
Berber
Bravan
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Czech
Dari
Dutch
French Creole
Igba
Krio
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Romany
Sinhala
Slovak
Tagalog
Tamil
Twi
Ukrainian
Walloon
thesun.co.uk
White Hart Lane Secondary School (equivalent to High School in the US) in Tottenham, North London (near Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane soccer stadium) has 59 languages spoken by its pupils -
Now mind your language
By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Political Editor
THE head of a secondary school where pupils speak 59 foreign languages has ordered that ALL lessons are taught in English.
Turkish children at White Hart Lane School had been taught GCSE science in their mother tongue — and there were plans to extend bilingual classes to Somali.
But new head Joan McVittie has insisted that English-only teaching at the mixed comprehensive in Tottenham, North London, would be better for the youngsters in the long run.
She said last night: “The issue is that these children are new learners. They will have to live and work in London and need to be able to speak English at a high level of competence.
“If you are learning so many new words in science, why not learn them in English?”
Mrs VcVittie added: “The outcome doesn’t justify the resources input. It is very, very costly.”
She has also brought back extra revision and coursework during school holidays and after hours — and has demanded pupils stick to the uniform code.
More than 70 per cent of White Hart Lane’s 1,000-plus kids have English as a second language.
The 11 to 18-year-olds speak everything from Albanian to Ukrainian. And the staff hail from 33 countries.
The bilingual scheme was introduced in 2001 by then-headteacher David Daniels.
Stephen Twigg, Education Minister at the time, said it was “very much the kind of good practice we want to promote”.
But Mrs McVittie’s U-turn was praised by the Tories last night.
Shadow Education Secretary David Willetts said: “English is the universal language in the modern world. It makes good sense for pupils to learn in English, particularly in subjects like science.”
Kids at the school speak the following languages -
Amheric
Italian Somali
Thai
Otomo
Hindi
Farsi
Russia
Triginya
Gujarati
Spanish
Swahili
German
Mandarin
Arabic
Punjabi
Somali
Ugandian
Albanian
Urdu
Spanish
Vietnamese
French
Lingala
Latvian
Luganda
Sylheti
Turkish
Kurdish
Mauritian
Greek
Bengali
Baluchi
Yoruba
Malay
Berber
Bravan
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Czech
Dari
Dutch
French Creole
Igba
Krio
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Romany
Sinhala
Slovak
Tagalog
Tamil
Twi
Ukrainian
Walloon
thesun.co.uk
