I refer to the interview with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo (‘We are risking becoming a single-language nation’, The Sunday Times of Malta, December 15).
The minister spoke very passionately about the importance of bilingualism in Malta, something we are very keen on.
What was not mentioned was the fact that organisations like ours work very hard at achieving this. We have a number of projects aimed at this and constantly dream of expanding our programmes.
Our work is focused primarily on students and we believe there are huge advantages of bilingualism in children. Students learning English through our Arm of Support Programme that currently runs (and has been running for three years) at the Primary School in Żabbar have enjoyed learning English – a language they are not used to hearing elsewhere – through play.
We also work with post-secondary school students, students who already speak English, but who are tutored to communicate effectively, maturely and productively in preparation for their future careers.