Cultural & Language Integration Challenges

CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATION: THE CHALLENGE OF INTEGRATION "With the arrival of migratory flows, Spain, which benefits from the cultural diversity of the various Communities that make up its entirety, is becoming a more plural society, characterized by an increase and acceleration of interactions between people."10 This This quotation emphasizes the understanding of the growing variety that now exists in the Spanish State, especially in the neighborhoods where immigration has expanded. Because of this, we thought it would be quite interesting to discuss the origins of immigration in the Canary Islands from the perspective of a cultural indicator -that is, schoolchildren's home tongue. The ability to speak and understand the language of the country they are living in is essential to the social integration of newcomers and, more importantly, to the educational process in schools. In this way, the availability of sufficient and appropriate training opportunities and the immigrants' capacity to access knowledge work together. The challenge of integration is emphasized in the numerous studies conducted on the perspectives of multiculturalism and interculturality when it comes to speakers of languages other than those of the host community. "In the Netherlands, students from African and ethnic minority backgrounds lag behind the national average by up to two years in certain subjects, like language and writing." But "the multicultural presence today is both an opportunity and a challenge... We need to work on cultivating a social conscience that enables us to recognize diversity for what it is./ We employ the categorization of foreign immigration in Spain that was chosen in the previously mentioned study to answer this viewpoint. La Caixa publishes Educational Challenges. It suggests making linguistic distinctions between three sizable groups: those who speak Spanish as their first language, people who speak "prestigious" languages like English, German, French, and other "European and Western" languages, and people who originally spoke other languages (mostly African and Asian languages). Of the total number of foreign students enrolled in schools in the Canary Islands (13,517), those who belonged to the first group (5,640 Americansl2) made up 41.7% in 2001. To this group could likely be added students from Equatorial Guinea, Sahrawi students, and some Moroccans or Europeans who had the opportunity to study Spanish in their previous schooling back home. English speakers make up a large portion of the second category, which includes people from South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and former colonies like Singapore, Taiwan, Mauritius, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, etc. There are 1,552 students in total, which makes up 11.5% of the total. Given the universality of their mother tongue and how simple it is for instructors and even other students to understand them, even if certain members of this group are not fluent in Spanish, this does not pose a significant problem. This group probably includes a large number of Canadians as well as some students from nations like India, Pakistan, Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, etc. where English is the official language. Even while visitors visiting the Canary Islands are likely to be more familiar with the language of Germans and Austrians, there is still a small language barrier. Recall that 10.2% of this group is represented. Because they express themselves in languages that are highly affinal to German, some youngsters from Nordic and Central Europe also engage in the language learning process; hence, the suggested figure may be qualitatively higher. Francophones: this group includes some Belgians, Moroccans, Senegalese, Cameroonian, and of course the French themselves. Despite having a lower representation, they share in the previously described qualities of their language's universality, which lessens understanding issues. For their side, speakers of Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish are more likely to succeed in linguistic immersion due to their close lexical and semantic closeness. To put it briefly, the usage of "prestige languages" promotes integration in this second group. In this regard, it is important to remember that non-Western Europeans might also be included in this category because, in their educational systems, learning foreign languages has been given top priority, which encourages the ability to acquire foreign languages and, as a result, the quick acquisition of Spanish. One unanswerable issue remains, though: what is the social background of the school immigrant? In light of this, it offers a For example, a Russian child born into an affluent metropolitan household will find it easier to integrate than a Bosnian child of rural background, Serbo-Croatian language speaker, and Muslim faith. It is important to remember that the family it belongs to has a significant cultural influence. The third group, who are ignorant of their native tongues and have had their Spanish language skills undermined by the local community, are in the most difficult condition. It does contain a lesser segment, though, with the two most significant being pupils who speak Arabic, mostly Moroccans and Mauritanians, and those who express themselves in other oriental languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or various Indian dialects, including Hindi. Maybe it is these minorities that insist on the creation of dedicated Spanish language learning programs as a top priority. Similar to other autonomous communities, the Department of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands has created a project of this kind named Plan del Sur, which was finished in 2002. Thirteen Novel experiences have been developed in this regard in the schools of Catalonia, Madrid, and Andalusia, where the presence of international students has assumed a significant role.14 Lastly, there are even more variables to take into account that may help or impede language integration. We discuss the student's age, his prior education in his home country, whether he spent his early years in the Canary Islands or, conversely, if he arrived and attended school elsewhere, and most importantly, the desire he and his family have to integrate. The issue of interculturality hasn't really been a problem until a few family networks and cohesive groups have emerged, slowing down the process or, better yet, educating kids in their culturally relevant fields. From this vantage point, the historical consolidation of foreign colonies (English, Indian, Korean, and German, in particular) in the Canary Islands has not resulted in issues with school integration, and the more recent ones are starting to organize. It is important to remember, though, that the issue of schoolchildren's differentiated linguistic belonging poses significant challenges in areas experiencing a recent wave of immigration, where students diverse origins and lack of roots have transformed the classroom into a true laboratory that the teachers refer to as "UN schools."