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From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Subject: Re: Languages in the EC
Message-ID: <D4J1rK.CwK@cwi.nl>
Sender: news@cwi.nl (The Daily Dross)
Nntp-Posting-Host: boring.cwi.nl
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
References: <3ia22b$1uv@access1.digex.net>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 23:11:43 GMT
Lines: 22

In article <3ia22b$1uv@access1.digex.net> lojbab@access.digex.net (Logical Language Group) writes:
...
 > >Nearly all of them are now pretty fluent in Dutch and their abilities in
 > >English (which they are tought the last 1.5 year) is also pretty good,
 > >regarding the time they have been exposed to it.
...
 > I am curious what you mean by "pretty fluent".

By "pretty fluent" I mean you can communicate with them without problem
at the level of their age.  Also, last week there was a "final test" on
their school.  This is to facilitate the choice of a follow-up school.
The children whose native language was not Dutch did *not* do below
average on that test, rather, they did a bit above average, so apparently
they had no problem with the written instructions.

There was only one child that did not participate, but she is from Ghana
and here in the Netherlands less than a year.  Moreover, she is shy and
does not regularly play outside with the other children; which makes a lot
of difference in my experience.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj  amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn  amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl
