Bennett to push for better English education
Education minister announces plan to tackle deficiency in English-speaking skills across Israel, particularly periphery: 'High school graduates in the Israeli education system do not know how to speak English;' As part of the proposed reform, English students would be pushed to improve their verbal skills and become eligible for a university education.
Plans for the upcoming school year of 2016-2017 include efforts to increase proficiency in English among primary and high school students. The formulators of the initiative hope to increase the number of students eligible to be tested in advance levels of English in their matriculation exams.
The new English reform aims to deal with two major factors: firstly, it seeks to afford more high school graduates the opportunity to continue to into higher education, which requires at least a Level 4 in the English exam. At present, this means that 41 percent of high school students do not meet the requirement, and have therefore been effectively blocked from attending university.
Secondly, Bennett's plan is designed to equip high school students with a better command of spoken English, as many graduates reportedly finish high school without a working knowledge of the language.
Bennett's plan for better English education mirrors his other program to promote emphasis on math education, which was announced last year in an effort to increase the number of students eligible to take a Level 5 math matriculation exams.
"After succeeding in the field of math, we're going to take on English," said Bennett during a meeting of Education Ministry officials. "We've got students finishing Level 5 English who still don't know how to write an e-mail. We need to change the lesson structures to provide them with the skills they need in the modern world."
The first part of Bennett's English scheme will focus on improving communication skills through developing the students' vocabulary while improving their ability to write articulately and communicate with a greater degree of fluency through presentations.
Particular emphasis will be put on improving English education in Israel's periphery, particularly in light of the substantial differences which have been identified between those living in the center of Israel and those living outside it.
To this end, Bennett plans to augment the number of English teachers, create scholarships for students in the field of English education and provide English academics with an easier route to becoming English teachers.
Head of the English Department at Oranim College, Dr. Elisheva Barkon, expressed her hopes that the reform would shift the focus in English from more minute structural information to the necessary knowledge required in today's global setting.
"The current curriculum still places too much of an emphasis on grammar and literary analysis that does not necessarily reflect the modern English language," she said. The new plan will, accordingly, seek to broaden students' vocabulary, with a target growth from 3,200 to 5,400 words for Level 5 students.
Over the past several years, the current English education plan has attracted much criticism from educators who deem it cumbersome, exhausting to teach and felt that it undermined the students' own efforts. The proposed plan, therefore, is intended to switch the focus to spoken English and practical language skills that would be helpful to anyone in contact with the English-speaking world.
