close windowSelami welcomes us in Dutch, and shows us the way to the headmaster’s office. «He is a Kosovar refugee», Xavier Delcourt, director of a municipal primary school in Sint-Joost-ten-Node (Brussels) tells us. Hardly any Belgians live in the surroundings of this school. No Flemings. The Turkish, Moroccan and African communities colour street life around here. But still, the logo ‘N’ of Dutch speaking education in Brussels, can be seen above the school gate.
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Are you in favour of employing >allochtonous teachers?
Xavier Delcourt: «We have experience with that, but not with form teachers. We’ve got a Turkish project running. Five allochtonous teachers teach home language and culture classes, in collaboration with integration centre De Foyer and the Turkish embassy. Some people think that home language classes slow down the learning of Dutch. We feel though that children and parents have to feel involved first. If need be, in their own language, so we can put them at ease. We have an open door policy. Which doesn’t always avoid conflict. Sometimes, parents take steps that we think go a bit too far. But if you exclude them on the basis of language difficulties, a conflict with a child can cause a storm of misunderstandings.»
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Why do migrant’s children go to a school where the medium of instruction is Dutch?
Xavier Delcourt: «The parents, who often don’t speak any Dutch, want to offer their children the opportunity to become bilingual so they would more easily find a job. They assume that we will deliver perfectly bilingual pupils at the end of the sixth form. When I enroll them, I do tell them honestly that a lot of extra time will have to be spent on language instruction if their children want to be succesful in secondary and higher education. In their own little circles and even during group work in class, children often speak their own mother tongues. In order to catch up with the language disadvantage, teachers take turns in staying late to assist children with their homework. They much prefer to voluntarily stay one hour longer at school. At least, all the tasks will be finished the next day.»
Do your teachers have to know more than one language?
Xavier Delcourt: «They don’t stick stubbornly to Dutch as an official language. They often communicate in French with parents of the Arab community. For Turkish parents, we have an interpreter at our disposal. Parents can also take Dutch classes in the school. We do give them a clear signal that Dutch is the language spoken here. In the morning, we greet them in Dutch, for example. Or we introduce them to straightforward words and expressions. If a more thorough contact is necessary, we have to switch to another language. Quite a few beginning teachers hardly speak French. But after one year in our school, they have earned their second language diploma.»
from: www.klasse.be