Britain's Spanish Colony
How Languages
Combine when Cultures Clash.
Introduction
A tiny isthmus
on the southern tip of Spain, Gibraltar has for the past three hundred
years proved to be one of Britain's most loyal colonies. So much so
that even now, decades after the advent of independence in the old
Empire, Gibraltarians still cling fiercely to their British identity
and adopted roots. Lying, as it does between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, the Rock's strategic importance has
for centuries landed it in the middle of vicious territorial wars and
disputes. However, between the bombs and sieges and as the dust has
settled, cultures and languages have come to merge and get along in a
way that has given rise to curious a hybrid population who will happily
mix a pint with a paella, a curry with a Rioja or an 'ole' with a
'cheers mate'.
Given its geographical position and colonial history, Gibraltar has for
the last three centuries enjoyed varying degrees of bilingualism and
biliteracy. However, haphazard educational schemes prior to WWII and
the insistence of colonial and local authorities to keep the Spanish
language as marginalised as possible within post-war curriculum, have
led to a failure in harnessing the full potential of Gibraltar's
linguistic situation. What damage has been done? How can it be repaired?
History
of English and Spanish on the Rock
As far back as 1766 the Spanish historian, Lopez de Ayala had
noted that Gibraltar was made up of "...2,700 English, Genoese and Jews
speaking a dialect 'compounded of Spanish and English..." (Ballantine,
1983, p5), this despite the fact that the actual number of Spaniards
living on the Rock at the time was minimal. It has been recorded that
there were three Catholic Priests who taught the Spanish children, the
Genoese community had a private school, there was another school for
the few English children on the Rock and the Jews had a "yeshiba"
within their synagogue in Irish Town (Kramer, 1986).
Yet despite these disorganised efforts at education and the
existence of four distinct language groups we can already see the first
steps to the creation of a bilingual society.
"...To facilitate the development socially and economically of an
integrated
community all these people, predominantly of
Mediterranean stock, needed
a common tongue in which to communicate and
trade..."
(Ballantine, 1982, p.5)
This language
was Spanish, and over the years the linguistic influences of English,
Portuguese, Hebrew and Italian led to the vernacular now known as
'Yanito'.
During the 19th century Education was still largely divided along
ethnic and religious lines. Children of the Garrison received
instruction from military staff, while the Jewish community organised
itself and different Christian Denominations competed for recruitment.
The Christian Brothers offered a bilingual education system on behalf
of the Catholic faith, while Methodists, aware that Spanish education
only led to lower paid jobs on the Rock began offering free English
education in 1832 (Krammer, 1986, p. 31). It is interesting to note how
Spanish was already being demoted to second place within the labour
market. This has had far reaching consequences on the psyche of the
Gibraltarian people and their consequent approach to both English and
Spanish.
"...all
forms of education which could offer instruction only in
Spanish
(like the lessons given by the [Spanish] Catholic priests) were
regarded
as unsatisfactory..."
(Krammer. 1986. p32)
None the less, the 1830's saw what could be described as the first
attempts at establishing bilingual education. These came in the form of
private schools, set up by the wealthier elements of the Rock.
"...Emphasis was placed on a good knowledge of English and Spanish..."
(Kramer, 1986, p.32). By 1835 there were no less than six private
schools in Gibraltar. Unfortunately there is no available information
regarding the methods and degrees of success of these schools.
While most education was carried out in the English language,
these were times when access to and emphasis on education by the lower
classes were minimal therefore the overriding influences of trade,
daily cross border workers and inter marriage would have ensured that
Spanish be the most commonly used language amongst the population at
large.
The 20th century saw more sustained efforts to formalise and
improve education for all members of Gibralatrian society. To this end
in 1930 H.E. Bowman, director of Education in Palestine was invited to
inspect all schools in Gibraltar. By the end of his visit Mr. Bowman
drew up a whole list of recommendations for local authorities. These
included a call for the teaching of literary Spanish, arguing that,
"...It
is clear that if they do not acquire literary Spanish during the early
years of their elementary school life, they never have an opportunity
of acquiring it later..."
(Kramer. 1986. p.39)
Unfortunately
none of his recommendations were implemented due to a reluctance to
invest by the authorities.
In any case all educational initiatives would soon be put on hold
as the outbreak of the Second World War led to the evacuation of all
Gibraltarian children, along with their mothers and grandparents.
Subsequently, the direction of post war education was decided long
before the repatriation of Gibraltarians had even begun. A committee
set up in 1943 to develop and offer proposals for future education
schemes in Gibraltar decided that the aims of any such schemes should
be that,
"...the future generation shall be British in something more than
name
so only will new and responsible leaders emerge..."
(Ballantine,
1982. p15).
This policy,
which lives on in the present educational system had more to do with
fostering a population loyal to the British Crown than offering a
qualitative educational system that took into account the local
linguistic situation. This could be likened to
Britain’s educational
policy in India, which was drawn up just over 100 years earlier and
could be summed up in the words of Thomas Macaulay who in 1835 wrote,
"...We
must do our best to form a class of persons Indian in blood
and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect..."
(http://india_resource.tripod.com/britishedu.htm)
All over its
Empire, Britain made use of local differences in order to maintain its
vast colonies. In India for example, higher castes were given British
education and employed in the civil service in order to administrate
and control the rest of the colony. In Gibraltar, the same principle
has been used to widen the gap between the labour force that lives
within the confines of the Rock and those who have to come in daily via
the frontier crossing.
Despite this, writing in 1982, Ballantine could still confidently claim
that
"...Spanish
remained, and still remains the main form of communication in
informal situations and, up to the first three decades of this century,
even
in formal situations..."
(Ballantine, 1982.
p.7).
The Spanish
language was very much alive not only in the social and colloquial
contexts but also in Gibraltar's literary and political spheres.
Works
such as Hector Licudi's novel Barbarita, (1929), Elio Cruz's 1960's
plays La Lola se va pa Londres and Connie con cama camera en el comedor
and Luis. S. Bruzon's La Roca (1967) are examples of local literay
works written in Spanish. As well as these there were newspapers such
as El Calpense (founded in 1885) and Luz, (founded in the 1940's) which
reflected a wide Spanish readership during the 1930's, 40's and 50's.
Political flyers and manifestos by most if not all political parties
were printed in Spanish up to and including the 1970's.
The
Shift: 1980's to Present Day
However, the linguistic situation now-a-days is not quite the same. 7
Days and El Faro are two recent attempts at redressing the linguistic
balance in the local press which had for the last three decades all but
completely abandoned the Spanish Language. A simple walk around in any
local play park will demonstrate how the social language of school
children is increasingly English and not Spanish. Parents, who chat
amongst themselves in Spanish and Yanito, interrupt the flow of their
conversation to speak in English to their sons and daughters. There are
some political leaflets published in Spanish but very few in comparison
to days gone by and the closest that we get to a literary works in
Spanish are Yanito plays such as Talego: Cell Block H and Fame: Eso que
es by Christian Santos and Richard Mor in 1997 and 1998 as well as
Mario Arroyos' Profiles (1994) "...a series of bilingual meditations on
love, loneliness and death..."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar#Gibraltar_in_popular_culture).
There are various reasons for this rapid shift in linguistic emphasis
and it is the combination of these factors, not anyone of them on its
own, that have brought us to where we stand today. The re-opening
of the frontier should have been the first step towards
normalisation of relations with our immediate neighbours however in
certain ways it had the opposite effect. While the use of the Spanish
language had not been affected in the previous sixteen years, attitudes
towards Spain had definitely hardened. As a result, a subconscious need
to assert local differences to the surrounding area came about.
Unreasonable frontier checks and unfair press coverage of the Gibraltar
question only aggravated this need. Local use of the English language
is on one of the biggest distinctions between Gibraltar and the Campo
Area hence the increased use of English.
Increased access to further education in the UK, largely due to the
Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party's decision to provide grants to all
students who accessed university is another important factor in the
local linguistic shift. Given the monolingual nature of our education
system, the vast majority of these students went to study in the UK and
so their links to the English language were further strengthened while
those to the Spanish language were weakened.
However, quiet aside from politics and education, what has probably had
the biggest influence on Gibraltar's young language learners is the
sudden influx of satellite and digital channels that hit our television
screens in the early 90's and has remained with us ever since. Whereas
prior to the 90's, Gibraltarian homes only received two Spanish
Channels and one local one (which operated in English) we are now
inundated with somewhere between fifty to eighty English language
channels to about ten Spanish ones. More importantly all of the 24hr
cartoon channels are in English and so the result is that children
glued to the hypnotic haze of the TV are no longer picking up Spanish
from it as previous generations did. This together with the fact that
there is absolutely no Spanish in the primary school curriculum (and
the above mentioned factors) is rapidly phasing out the use of Spanish
amongst our young children.
Ways
Ahead
The main reason for the above summary of English and Spanish use over
the past 300 years is to illustrate that any effort to redress the
linguistic balance of Gibraltar needs to go far beyond the mere
implementation of a bilingual educational system. These two languages
have co-existed within a very distinct framework in Gibraltar. As a
result they have become reflections of cultural and political outlooks.
To attempt a change in the way they are delivered within the
educational system without regarding local sensibilities would blow the
plan right out of the sky immediately after take off.
Throughout the British segment of Gibraltar's history, the English
language has been very much the language of the administration and of
authority, an authority that has, by and large been acquiesced and
accepted by all locals. It is very much tied to concepts of identity on
the Rock and misjudged efforts to reduce time spent on it in school in
favour of the Spanish language could be misconstrued, by many in the
community as concessions to 'the enemy'. No matter how ridiculous this
seems, it is the reality in which we live.
Spanish use on the other hand, while enjoyed by the majority of
Gibraltarians has a secondary status in society. It has no place in the
Legal/Judicial system, education, and is only used in business when
dealing with Spanish counterparts. Furthermore the blurring of its
social role since the early to mid nineties (due to aforementioned
reasons) means that approaches to widening its use within our schools
need to be very well thought out and go hand in hand with wider, social
and cultural initiatives.
The opening of an Instituto Cervantes in the near future will hopefully
go far in addressing these cultural concerns. Despite the voices of
bigotry which have already condemned the bringing of this institute to
town, there is little doubt that this institution will bring with it a
large influx of Spanish language and literature in the form of plays,
films and books. This will be appreciated by many locally and will
surely exert a valuable linguistic influence over the years to come.
Co-operation between the Institute and local schools would also go a
long way in helping local students recover the standard of Spanish that
has been lost over the last couple of decades.
However we can not merely rely on this institute to do all the work for
us. The Macintosh Hall Library is in dire need of financial investment.
Its resources need to be revamped and books need to be updated. Being
the only public library of its nature, the library should be expanded
in accordance with the large student population of the Rock. Such an
expansion should definitely include a Spanish literary section as big
as the English one.
Film is also a very important manner in which languages are absorbed.
The local cinema should be encouraged to make use of the wealth of
Spanish and South American cinema to entertain local crowds. Government
could get the ball rolling on this by initially footing the bill of
those Spanish language films brought into Gibraltar or at least
offering reductions on the import duty of such films.
Such an influx of Spanish literature, film and theatre would in turn
influence local culture and aid the community in the recovery of the
rich elements of Spanish language which existed here not so long ago.
This approach, would also prepare society for the necessary change in
educational policy that would bring in the much needed bilingual
educational system.
Bilingual
Education, An assessment of its various forms
In his thesis 'A study of the effects of English'�, (practically
the only serious study into the implementation of bilingual education
in Gibraltar). Ballantine argues that cutting and pasting an
educational system from a different country into our own educational
establishments can have serious negative effects on the cognitive
development of the students educated with it. At the time (1982), he
was referring to
the monolingual education, imported from the UK.
This was based on the fact that only 15% to 25% of students succeeded
in external examinations when his study was conducted. As well as this
Ballantine conducted various studies on a sample of 30 to 50 students,
aged between 12 and 14 and of varying academic abilities. Via the use
of questionnaires he first ascertained that all the students to be
tested had only been exposed to the Spanish language prior to entering
school. Once the children had been selected they were subjected to five
different language tests, which included a Word Association Task; Word
Naming Test; Picture Naming Test; Picture Composition Test; and a Test
of Flexibility.
The test results showed that "...Generally speaking, structures, style
and
punctuation are clearly affected...". (Ballantine. 1982. p.47). The
work
of those studied was plagued by lexical and syntax errors and
interestingly enough many errors were also observed in their use of the
Spanish language. In 1982, Ballantine could safely argue that
"...approximately 80% of cases..." (p.78) were thrown into an
unknown
language - English - at primary school level and hence suffered the
aforementioned detrimental effects.
Consequently, Ballantine argues that one language should be used to
teach another at primary level. He encourages the use of both languages
simultaneously in order not to exclude children with no knowledge of
the first and via the use message-orientated exercises such as 'Command
and Execute'(p.84) games, the second can effectively be brought into
the classroom. Once the standard of knowledge in both languages has
achieved and acceptable level then full bilingual education can
commence. Given the general use of the Spanish language prior to school
and the practical need to attend university in the UK, Ballantine
offers the following Time Distribution Model in order to execute the
delivery of bilingual education.
Spanish%
English% Age
80
20
5
70
30
6
60
40
7
50
50
8
45
55
9
35
65
10
25
75
11
20
80 12-18
While Ballantine's thesis remains the most extensive (and
possibly only) study into the need for bilingual education in
Gibraltar, there is no getting away from the fact that it is now dated.
As was discussed earlier, the last three decades have seen a
significant shift in linguistic patterns amongst local children.
Therefore, the above Time Distribution Model could unfairly
discriminate those children who now have English as their first
language rather than
Spanish. The lack of any up to date scientific study on English and
Spanish use locally, severely hampers ones ability to suggest an
effective bilingual educational scheme. Never the less, we shall try.
The Wikipedia online encyclopaedia offers four models of
bilingual education; Transitional Bilingual Education; Two-Way or Dual
Language Bilingual Education; Dual Language program; Developmental
Bilingual Education. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingual_education)
The aim of Transitional Bilingual Education is, as the name
states, to aid student's transition in to the mainstream. So for
example, had this been introduced in the 1980's in Gibraltar its
purpose would have been to help Spanish speaking students to master the
English language. This is done by starting the educational process in
the child's mother tongue for up to three years while working on the
implementation of English. The idea behind it being that students do
not fall behind in subjects such maths.
Two-Way or Dual Language Bilingual Education aims to produce
fully bilingual students from an intake of native and non-native
English speakers. The intake should approximately have a 50/50 balance
of native and non-native English speakers.
"...research
indicates they are extremely effective in helping students
learn English well and aiding the long-term performance of English
learners in school (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2005; Thomas &
Collier, 1997; Lindholm-Leary, 2000)...."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingual_education)
With Dual Language Programs students are taught various academic
subjects in their second language. This involves the employment of
specially trained bilingual teachers who can understand their questions
in the native language, but always answer in the second language.
Meanwhile students receive literacy classes in their mother tongue thus
improving their reading, writing speaking and listening skills in their
native language.
"...Research
has shown that many of the skills learned in the native
language can be transferred easily to the second language later..."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingual_education)
Developmental Bilingual Education offers an extended educational scheme
in the student's mother tongue which is simultaneously accompanied by
English education. Again the goal is to develop bilingualism and
biliteracy in both languages.
The systems
described above are standard schemes which should in no way be viewed
as static or unchangeable. Any scheme to be put to use locally should
be moulded to our particular situation and needs. It is also worth
noting what other countries are doing, as our status as a multilingual
society is by no means unique. The Philippines for example have two
official languages, English and Filipino. As a result, their
constitution provides guidelines for the teaching of each language.
Subjects such as the Sciences and Maths are taught in English while
History for example is taught in Filipino.
Around 100 bilingual schools operate in Holland. These teach almost all
the subjects in English leaving only room for Dutch language and
literature in their native tongue. Canada's Federal Government is keen
to make its country a bilingual one. In order to achieve this they have
began implementing French Immersion programmes in their public schools.
Students with no French background start their preschool by doing all
of their work in French. Other English schools provide the French
immersion in grades four or seven.
Most impressive of all are the European Schools set up near EU
institutions. These schools provide trilingual education to the
children of parents who work in such institutions. The children receive
the bulk of their education in their own language while the first
foreign language learnt is provided from the word go. This language is
usually French, English or German and is compulsory throughout the
whole of their education there. Later on, in the second year of
secondary school students must choose a second foreign language which
can be any other European language. Finally, in the fourth year of
secondary school each student has the choice of taking on a third
foreign language. All foreign languages are taught in international
classes with native teachers. The general curriculum, aside from
language classes, is the same across the board.
Interestingly enough the Andalucian region of Spain has recently
launched a Plurilingualism Promotional Plan whereby French and German
were used to part teach some subjects in certain schools. The successes
of initial experiments led to the expansion of the project, which
started in 1998, so that by 2003 there were already plans for 400
schools to be included in the scheme. There will also be the addition
of English and other languages and the scheme will be monitored
throughout.
Conclusion:
What to do in Gibraltar?
At the risk of seeming repetitive, I cannot emphasise enough the need
for a wide ranging and in depth study of the linguistic situation as it
currently stands in Gibraltar. One of the main aims of this study would
be to ascertain the proportion of local children whose mother tongue
(i.e. language spoken at home prior to school age) is Spanish and how
many are brought up with English in the home. Otherwise, the
introduction of any new teaching method will be done on the basis of
estimates and guesses and that would not be good enough for future
student generations. Furthermore it would represent a gross waste of
public funds if changes implemented to the system did not work out and
had to be reversed.
The results of any such study should then be carefully analysed in
order to provide the best possible system to cater for Gibraltar's
[our] distinct socio-linguistic situation. The cutting and pasting of
any foreign system on to our own would definitely not yield
satisfactory results. However, this is not to say that good examples
should not be followed. Given the hypothetical situation of such a
study being conducted I would propose the following amendments to our
current education system:
All our primary and middle schools should be divided up along
linguistic lines, according to the proportions of children speaking
English and Spanish at home. Therefore some schools would be primarily
English speaking with a substantial emphasis on Spanish and others
should work in the opposite manner. The second language should be
introduced from the word go and occupy at least a quarter of the
teaching time available. A third language could be introduced
once the children enter secondary education.
This system could be extended into secondary education by dividing our
secondary schools along linguistic rather than gender lines as is the
case now and motivation for studying in Spanish should be provided via
the opening of opportunities for further education in Spain. The
general curriculum of both Spanish and English based schools should run
parallel to each other and be designed to allow entry into both Spanish
and British Universities.
The recognition of Spanish as the second official language of Gibraltar
would seem a logical step forward in the creation of a truly bilingual
society. However the unfortunate (in this case) merging of language and
local identity issues would make such a move counterproductive at this
time.
I am aware that the system described above is crude and undefined
however, the lack of serious in depth research into this subject matter
makes it near impossible to get into further detail. Such speculation,
without the necessary facts and figures to back it up would be both
foolish and pointless. Given the educational base of such a project,
securing EU funds for both research and implementation should not be
too difficult and therefore, local authorities should already be
looking at where and how to start the creation of a truly bilingual and
biliterate society.
The author,
Jonathan Teuma, is a freelance journalist from Gibraltar who studied
English and Race and Culture at Middlesex University, London , and
Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University before moving to the
Spanish mainland not far
from Gibraltar. He has also worked in Angola on an AIDS awareness
programe.
All images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar
Books
Archer, E.G. & Traverso, A.A. Education in Gibraltar:1704-2004,
Brighton, Gibraltar Books, 2004.
Ballantine, S. A Study of the Effects of English, Gibraltar, 1982.
Krammer, J, English and Spanish in Gibraltar, Hamburg, Buske, 1986.
Internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar#Gibraltar_in_popular_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingual_education
http://india_resource.tripod.com/britishedu.htm
© For/Against 2007