VIEWS From the pen of... Gill Aitchison


This month, in our regular series on authors in UK education, we hear from GILL AITCHISON, author of the multilingual ‘Mungo Makes New Friends’


Elements of truth are often present in fiction. 'Mungo Makes New Friends' was inspired by real events. There was an old horse in Scotland who was happy to share his food with a pheasant and share his stable with a robin, but the rest is my imagination and my desire to write a dual language book for EAL (English as an Additional Language) learners. During my career I was lucky to live


and work in many countries as a Learning Support teacher, TEFL teacher and ESOL teacher in different sectors:


schools, Adult Learning and In-Service training for teachers. Using my experience of teaching language skills, I wanted to


create a story that would be a pleasure to read aloud, using good grammatical structures and setting any new vocabulary in context with illustrations. Creating a story and publishing a book are two very different


processes which require different skills as I have learned. As in many aspects of life, feedback along the way has been


invaluable. Family and friends read early editions and were encouraging, the finished story was sent to an agent who rejected the story, but advised me to contact the publisher, Mantra Lingua (known for their illustrated dual language books) directly. Robene Dutta and his team were very supportive, linking up with the illustrator, Jill Newton, and the process of publishing the book began. The themes of friendship and teamwork are highlighted in the


book and they were much in evidence in the making of the book. In addition to the Mantra Lingua team, one colleague retold the story in Polish and another narrated the story for the e-book version. I retired as Head of the Bilingual Service in Dundee, a service


known for promoting bilingualism, encouraging children and young people who were 'New to English' to maintain and develop their home language whilst learning English. One of the resources we recommended to help parents raise their


children bilingually was dual language books which could be read aloud and shared in the home language, encouraging interaction between reader and listener. However, parents often said they didn't have time to do this. Now with the use of Mantra Lingua's PENpal, the sound-enabled


books can be read and listened to in both English and the home language over and over again. The advantages of bilingualism are fully explained by Professor


Colin Baker in his highly recommended book, “A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism”. Over the years I have realised the importance of communication


in this multicultural world and witnessed time and time again the benefits of bilingualism. Developing two or more languages well gives people the


opportunity to communicate with a wider range of people. As educators you can create a learning environment where


bilingualism is valued, having dual language books and materials as part of your resources confirms that value and raises language awareness for all. 'Mungo Makes New Friends' also has downloadable activity sheets. You may also have noticed that I enjoy playing with words – look back at the first letter of each paragraph in this article!


Mungo Makes New Friends is available to buy in over 20 languages, with more to come! Find the book and other Mungo learning resources at uk.mantralingua.com/mungo


February 2019 British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) What “little extras” will


your school buy? This month, regular Education Today contributor PATRICK HAYES, Director at school suppliers’ trade association BESA, calls for significant additional funds for the UK’s schools.


Back in October, Chancellor Philip Hammond made himself very unpopular by announcing £400m for schools in a one-off capital injection to buy some “little extras”. While it sounds like a lot, it wasn’t anywhere near what was hoped


for, and is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the overall education budget in England. As the Local Schools Network has also pointed out, it masks the “massive forecast reduction of capital expenditure on schools from £5.6 billion in 2018/19 to £4.5 billion in 2020/21”. But as I have pointed out before in this column, while some say the


money given in the budget is insufficient, it’s important to recall that while an extra £10,000 per primary school and £50,000 per secondary school in England may not seem much, the average primary school only has a mere £34,270 to spend on resources each year; and the average secondary £148,910. But are schools really planning to spend this in the way Philip


Hammond envisioned? Working with the National Education Research Panel, we asked a representative sample of schools across the country how they were planning to spend it. Results from our latest survey suggests the impact of the additional


funding will lift both primary and secondary resource spending during 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years. However, the amount allocated is expected to be significantly short


of the total (namely, 11% of the total allocation in 2018/19 and a further 17% in 2019/20). The additional capital allocations are having an impact on


supporting the anticipated overall increase in resource spending. Results from the 930 schools we spoke to suggests a quarter will


not spend any of the additional funding allocation whatsoever in 2019 (preferring to save or reduce deficits), while a further fifth are currently undecided. For some the allocation will just end up as part of general funding,


while the remaining will allocate funding to specific areas of capital spending. Funding is most likely to end up being used for computers, networking and peripherals, with a limited percentage identifying classroom or sports equipment. That only 42% of schools are planning to spend the money in the


way that the Chancellor hoped speaks volumes about the extent to which schools are currently struggling to make ends meet. It’s no wonder that the respected Education Policy Institute think-


tank has found that half of secondary academies and 60% of maintained secondary schools are now spending more money than they receive and are incurring an operating deficit as a result. While some have reserves they can draw on, others don’t - and this situation is simply unsustainable. This year we should see a comprehensive spending review that may


see education budgets being set for multiple years at a time - like the NHS - it’s critical that during this review the current school funding crisis is engaged with seriously, and more money is found not only for the “little extras” but everything else as well. While “every little helps”, from all our research, it’s clear that the amount schools are getting simply isn’t enough.


uFor information from BESA contact: u020 7537 4997 upatrick@besa.org.uk uwww.besa.org.uk


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