Language Centres at a Crossroads

Language integration of young refugees is an important issue in European education; yet, language integration systems show some deficit in all European countries. These deficits are i. e. the lack of experience at the administrative level, the lack of valid studies in multilingualism at European schools (ALTMAYER 2009, BAJ 2016).

First, the poster introduces the system of language integration of young refugees in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the "first contact within language integration" at the moment the refugees are granted the asylum; in other words the policy of the Czech State Integration Program , and also by the NGOs and at last but not least at Czech schools. In the first part, the poster presents advantages and disadvantages of individual strategies, compares and contextualizes them in the Czech environment, draws attention to specific problems with teaching young refugees, and presents concrete measures from prevention to repression.

In the second part, the poster tries to compare the language integration system of young refugees in Germany and in the Czech Republic. One may assume that this comparison reveals important similarities and helps to analyze the language integration policies more clearly. As far as comparative research is concerned, Germany is an exemplary country rich in different integration strategies, as each administrative part treats the language integration of young refugees differently. Like the Czech system today, the German system in the 1970s was not prepared for a larger influx of children from migrant families or with a lack of knowledge of German language. Subsequently, various and often contradictory measures were adopted on the basis of different concepts from elementary submerge through special preparatory classes to differentiated models of gradual integration into mainstream education (ALTMAYER 2009).

In the third part, the poster summarizes the similarities and differences in language integration of young refugees in the Czech Republic and Germany and try to point out the current problems in language integration policies.

Jazyková integrace je v evropském vzdělávání již po několik desetiletí důležitým tématem, přičemž většina evropských systémů jazykové integrace v posledních letech vykazuje určitý deficit. Tyto deficity jsou mimo jiné způsobeny nedostatkem zkušeností na správní úrovni, jakož i nedostatkem relevantních studií o mnohojazyčnosti na evropských školách. Poster představí systém jazykové integrace mladých uprchlíků v České republice, zejména v rámci Státního integračního programu. Ve druhé části bude český integrační program porovnán s programy jazykové integrace v Německu, které je příkladnou zemí využívající různé integrační strategie. Každá spolková země přistupuje k jazykové integraci mladých cizinců odlišně, od elementární submerze přes speciální přípravné třídy až po diferencované modely postupné integrace do hlavního vzdělávání. Poster představuje výhody a nevýhody jednotlivých strategií, porovnává a kontextualizuje je v evropském prostředí, upozorňuje na specifické problémy při výuce mladých uprchlíků a představuje aktuální opatření od prevence po represi.

References:

• Die Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz (BAJ) (2016): Geflüchtete Kinder und Jugendliche, Dossier 1/2016.
• Altmayer, Claus (2009): Mehrsprachigkeit und Schulerfolg – die europäische (deutsche) Perspektive, Stellenbosch Posters in Linguistics PLUS, Vol. 38, p. 101-110.

Mgr. Ing. Petr Pytlík Ph.D. works at the Department of German Language and Literature at the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University. He specializes in German literature, history of German population in the Czech Republic and integration policies. In 2003-2012 he studied ethnology, French language and literature, public administration and German language and literature at Masaryk University. He obtained his doctoral degree by working on Guido List, a nationalistic writer of the early 20th century. He is also the head of the project of refugees' language integration within the State Integration Program.

Mgr. et Mgr. Radim Ošmera graduated from Masaryk University - Czech language and literature and esthetics. Since 2005 he has been working as a tutor of Czech for foreigners in classes for adults. In 2014 he became specialized in teaching Czech to children and in 2015 he started his education methodologist specialization in Czech language for foreigners. Since 2017 he has been lecturing at Masaryk University - Faculty of Education. He cooperates with Center for foreigners JMK Brno and AUČCJ (Association of Teachers of Czech languages for foreigners). Those cooperations include - among others - teaching Czech for foreigners, training new tutors, preparing scope and content of the courses for foreigners as well as educational courses and workshops for tutors. He covers the topic of Czech for foreigners in his several papers and in his thesis.