Case Study

Introduction

Founded in 1929, Levenshulme High School for Girls became Manchester’s first Specialist Language College in 1996. According to the January 2007 Ofsted report, 'Personalised support [at Levenshulme] helps to create a positive climate for learning and provides students with the help they need to become more independent as learners.' The school has international ties with schools in Spain, Germany, and Kwazulu Natal province in South Africa, and there are plans for further links with schools in Iran and Chile. Levenshulme offers Saturday classes in Arabic, Bengali and Urdu free of charge to any member of the public. Pupils are encouraged to obtain accreditation for these and an even wider variety of languages, including Dutch, Persian, Mandarin, Panjabi and Polish. The school’s 963 pupils, aged 11-16, represent a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds.

Arabic at Levenshulme

Levenshulme began offering Saturday classes in Arabic free of charge to the public in 2001. Originally funded by the local council through the New Opportunity Fund, the lessons are now provided through the Language College. Levenshulme also offers a lunchtime Arabic and Islamic studies club which is funded through Extended Schools. At the club pupils receive informal assessment of their ability levels, receive extra help in preparation for their GCSE’s and a personalised learning approach. This year, for the first time, Levenshulme has also introduced Arabic to its curriculum.

Background of the family

The family described in this case study is a British-Asian family residing in Manchester. The father, aged 43, is the son of a Pakistani doctor and came to the UK in 1967. He has a dental degree from the UK and considers his mother tongue to be English. The mother, aged 36, is the daughter of a Pakistani doctor and came to the UK in 1989. She speaks Urdu, English and Pashto and her mother tongue is Chitrali, a language spoken in the Chitral region of Pakistan and otherwise known as Khowar. She has a Pakistani qualification which is the equivalent of an A Level in Humanities. They have a son, aged 16, and two daughters, aged 14 and 12. The older daughter also studies German and Spanish at school and the youngest daughter takes Spanish and French. When the children were younger they attended a Muslim primary school. When asked what they hope for their children, the parents responded that they would like them to be financially stable and happy in their careers.

Family learning

The family joined Levenshulme’s Saturday Arabic lessons in 2004. These lessons are open to the public, so the class is made up of students of various ages and competencies. The family was not alone in the class, but they are the only family unit.

The family had some exposure to every day Arabic language and Modern Standard Arabic, though they were not Arabic speakers. Classes are split up into beginner and intermediate, so they began beginner lessons to start with. At this stage, the father had more knowledge of Arabic than other family members, and both the father and mother had experience reading Qu’ranic Arabic in religious texts.

Methodology

Initial lessons centred on learning and writing simple words. Early progression was swift. Once it came to writing sentences and speaking the parents showed a greater interest in learning Arabic and were the first to begin speaking. Either for fear of speaking and making mistakes or perhaps due to a lack of motivation to learn, the children were slower to pick up speaking skills.

To tackle this from a teaching perspective, the lessons would be geared towards the children using flash cards and practising role plays with the parents learning alongside them, and more importantly, providing extra support to their children. The family would usually work as a group and help each other out when possible. The father motivated the family, and particularly the son’s interest, through providing encouragement, buying learning materials and attending lessons with the family.

The Arabic teacher, Inam Al-Ali, stresses that with family learning it is important to make sure that progression is NOT an individual endeavour. The approach used meant that the entire family could progress at the same pace, mimicking a class of individuals more familiar in mainstream schooling. Over time, the family progressed to intermediate lessons.

Successes

Children in a family learning setting were very focused. From a health and safety point of view, the children felt safe with their parents alongside them in a community language learning environment within a mixed setting. The parents are very happy with the progress the family is making as a unit in the classroom. They also work together at home which has had a positive impact on family relations and friendship. Together the family prepare homework, retrieve information from the internet, visit the library, shop for books and, most importantly, communicate in the target language. They have supported their learning through reading the Qu’ran as a bilingual text translated into Urdu or English as well as practicing with Arabic friends.

Challenges

The whole experience was like a class within a class especially if there was a big turnout of students of different levels on that day. It would be interesting to find out if there is a demand for lessons aimed only at families and focused of family learning. There was also a lack of resources designed for family learning which increased pressure on the teacher who had to make suitable handouts and teaching materials available.

Absenteeism could pose a problem since if one member of the family did not attend the entire family would not attend. This had a large impact on student numbers and lesson planning.

Next steps

Inam would like to take her experience further to develop and establish special classes based purely on the family learning approach, developing a scheme of work that inspires family learning geared towards recognized qualifications. She will attempt to recruit family learners who are interested in learning and gaining accreditation. She is also seeking to investigate whether funding exists to support family learning by paying for resources.

The entire family intend to take GCSE Arabic. The children will sit the exam alongside their parents. This is a great opportunity to reinforce learning and team-work.

Inam says she 'would like to see Specialist Schools leading the way and making the move towards [family] learning and benefiting from the available funding in order to raise community education by gaining formal qualifications such as Asset languages, GCSEs and A levels in community languages.'

About the School