The school year in the Valencian Community began this week with the end of language immersion in Catalan, among other novelties, with the new law on educational freedom, and one of the most important aspects was the experimental plansThis formula was implemented in the Vega Baja of Alicante, a Spanish-speaking area, with a series of tips For avoid tensions with the families.
Aware that this region traditionally has the lowest use of Valencian among the population, the then Minister of Education, Vicent Marzà (Compromís), met in 2017 with representatives of the school community to announce a more flexible and progressive application of the law on multilingualism, with quotas of 25% of the teaching load in a language they do not know.
“They were made reviewsjobs, activities and everything that was in Valencian, so that the classes continued to be taught in Spanish, or the teacher started with a “good day” and then continued in Spanish all the time,” recalls a teacher who experienced this close process.
There were also those who tried: “Some started to explain everything in Valencian, almost like heroes, but they got tired and gave up because they spent their time clarifying everything, because the studentsNo You they understood“.
They also remind employees of these tricks to increase the hours of Spanish lessons, while the quota did not reach this minimum of 25%, as revealed by the association Hablamos Español and published ABCIn this case, they counted theater performances, time spent consulting teachers – tutorials – or doing homework.
To some extent, one might think that the painting classes in Valencian in Vega Baja, where the majority of the inhabitants use Spanish exclusively, were a sign of indulgence and understanding or empathy. However, the teacher who recounted this stage to this newspaper reveals what the disastrous consequences were in the medium and long term: “The issue came after having to approve a exam of this subject in Valencian at the end of the educational cycle, because it was not worth saying that you did not know, since on paper it was clear that you had four years learn the subject in this language.
