Languages Other Than English

LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects besides English in Australia, New York City, and other schools. The name evolved from 'heritage language', a term first used to refer to languages other than French and English in Canada. Later modified in relation to Australia to refer to languages other than English.[1] LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area, the idea being to play a part in the maintenance of cultural identities in local communities.

"LOTE" redirects here. For other uses, see Lote (disambiguation).

LOTE is also used to describe written material presented in languages other than English.[2]

LOTE in Australia

Education

LOTE is becoming an increasingly popular subject in Australian Schools. The Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages, produced by ACARA, has suggested three tiers of languages to be taught in Australian schools in 2011:[3]

Tier 1Tier 2Tier 3
ItalianJapaneseArabic
ChineseFrenchModern Greek
IndonesianVietnamese
KoreanTamil
Hindi
Bengali
German
Spanish

Tier 1 languages were chosen because they cater for the needs of the greatest number of students. Italian is learnt by the most students and Chinese is a national priority.[3]

Tier 2 languages were chosen because French, Japanese, Indonesian and German are some of the most frequently taught languages in Australian schools, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean are national priorities and Spanish "is a language of global importance".[3]

Tier 3 languages were chosen because Arabic, Modern Greek and Vietnamese are the most frequently spoken foreign languages in Australian homes, and Arabic "is a language of global importance".[3]

Culture

Some local government councils across New South Wales facilitate acknowledge different heritages by running ethnic festivals. These events attract locals to celebrate diverse cultural identities in the local communities. For instance, in 2016 the Fairfield local council hosted a Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival, in Cabramatta.[4] This celebrated Cabramatta's high Chinese and Vietnamese population. The festival included traditional activities and performances such as dragon dancing, ethnic foods, moon cake. In 2020-2021 the harvest festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.[5]

References
  1. King, Kendall A.; Ennser-Kananen, Johanna (5 November 2012). "Heritage Languages and Language Policy". The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0500. ISBN 9781405194730. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  2. "Cultivating Non-English Collections: a unique partnership that alleviates the pain of librarians in multi-language communities | Offices of the American Library Association". www.ala.org. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  3. "Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages" (PDF). p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2016.
  4. "Moon festival takes over streets of Sydney's Cabramatta". ABC News. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  5. Boulous, Chris (26 August 2021). "'Difficult time': Cabramatta Moon Festival cancelled". Fairfield City Champion. Retrieved 14 December 2021.


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