Bangladesh Is My Motherland

Suggested uses for Bangladesh is my motherland: This paper will be valuable background for all those teachers working with bilingual students and especially for teachers of English as a second language, English, and community languages, at both school and adult education level. Although the case study focuses on Bengali pupils, making it of particular interest to those working with the Bengali community in Britain or interested in Bangladesh, most of the issues raised apply equally to other bilinguals. The paper is unusual in that it uses students' own descriptions and thoughts about the experience of being a bilingual learner. The section on INSET makes the paper a valuable resource for all those providing training on bilingual issues. It provides ample evidence of the statement in the Cox Report on English for ages 5 to 16 (1989) that 'bilingual children offer opportunities to explore such themes [i.e. knowledge about language] in a novel context'. It will also be of interest to academics concerned with bilingualism and those concerned with living in a multicultural society, linguistic human rights and the education rights of minorities. (N.B. In the course of this paper the term 'bilingual' is used to refer to all pupils who have access to or need to use two languages at home and at school. It does not imply fluency in either language and includes pupils just beginning to learn English.)