[etni] prior knowledge in English
- From: "Gelbard Family" <gelbard@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 22:22:43 +0200
Shavua Tov,
I wanted to bring up a topic that has been bothering me for a while, and
which came to a head last week.
In the English Curriculum guidebook, it says that "more and more pupils have
extensive contact with English before beginning formal English
instruction.". My question is, what about those who don't?
I teach in the religious sector, in two religious high schools, one for boys
and the other for girls. In both of them I have the same problem. The pupils
do not have exposure to English (no TVs, not even much Internet etc.) and a
lot of prior knowledge that is taken for granted in other sectors just
doesn't exist for them.
For example, last week I gave a weak 3 point class an unseen on "Mr.
Wikipedia". It was obviously assumed that everyone knows what Wikipedia is,
and what its purpose is. However, my pupils had no idea. This means that
they are penalized as what is clear to some pupils is not clear to others
and stuff that students are "expected " to know is not relevant for them.
They don't have the same prior knowledge as other pupils and therefore they
are at a disadvantage in the Bagrut exams.
How does the Ministry take this into account? I'd be interested to hear how
I am supposed to deal with this. I'm sure that I'm not the only one with
this problem, especially in the religious sector.
Thanks,
Sara Gelbard
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