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Colombia Bilingualism timeline

  • 1540

    1540-1810

    1540-1810
    Many schools and universities were set in the Nuevo Reino de Granada (group of Spanish provinces that existed during the colonial period where Colombia is located now).
  • 1811-1886

    1811-1886
    Colombia went through a period of political unsteadiness since
    the state was in process of consolidation; this affected the creation and implementationof all sorts of policies and plans.
  • 1820

    1820
    Francisco de Paula Santander—who would later become president of Nueva Granada (name that the Nuevo Reino de Granada received after independence from Spain)
  • 1821-1993

    1821-1993
    English and French were both taught in most Colombian secondary.
    The government determined that Spanish needed to be taught as an obligatory.
  • 1826

    1826
    It was proposed to teach Spanish in primary and secondary schools.
  • 1833-1837

    1833-1837
    (Moreno de Angel, n.d.)—created a system of primary education that consisted of establishing a school for every community
    of more than 30 families.
  • 1951-1993

    1951-1993
    More hours were assigned to English because of
    the worldwide relevance that this language gained after the Second World War
  • 1970

    1970
    "Latin stopped being taught in schools"
  • 1994

    1994
    "The General Law of Education (Law 115) gave schools the right to teach only one foreign language"
  • 2003

    2003
    "The PFDCLE developed the educational materials Let’s Learn English with the Adventures of Bunny Bonita, 9 English for Colombia-ECO, My ABC English Kit: Supplementary Materials for English Learning and Teaching in Primary Schools in Colombia, and English, please!"
  • 2004

    2004
    2004 - 2016 a national bilingualism law and four national bilingualism plans were launched in order to regulate the English language instruction in the country. "According to the Ministry of Education (MEN, 2014a), although English had been taught in the Colombian context for a very long time, no clear criteria, levels, or objectives established in the law or national educational plans launched before 2004 existed"
  • 2005

    2005
    2005-2006 evidenced that nearly 65% of the English teachers from the public sector who voluntarily took the exam had an A2 level. "Diagnostic tests applied be tween 2005 and 2006 (MEN, 2009a, 2009b) evidenced that nearly 65% of the English teachers from the public sector who voluntarily took the exam had an A2 level
    or below while only 33% of them had a B2 level or above"
  • 2007

    2007
    ." Alignment of the national exams Saber 114 and Saber Pro5
    to the CEFR, which according to the MEN (2009a, 2009b) has been done since September " . "According to the MEN (2009b), the PNB was presented to communities of English teachers"
  • 2009

    2009
    "Through the PNB, the MEN (2006) established that by 2019 all Colombian students would achieve a specific level of the CEFR" López, Ropero Pacheco, and Peralta (2011) and López (2009) affirm that neither the Saber 11 nor the Saber Pro is completely aligned with the CEFR Three strategies were implemented: Adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), Alignment of the national exams Saber 114 and Saber Pro5 to the CEFR.
  • 2010

    2010
    The Program for Strengthening the Development of Competences in Foreign Languages was launched 29% of the teachers who took the annual voluntary diagnostic test achieved a B2 English level Saber 11 exams revealed that until 2010, 57% of the 11 graders from the official sector obtained scores that corresponded to having no exposure to the language The PFDCLE gave continuity to the strategies proposed in the PNB.
  • 2011

    2011
    López, Ropero Pacheco, and Peralta (2011) and López (2009) affirm that neither the Saber 11 nor the Saber Pro is completely aligned with the CEFR
  • 2013

    2013
    In 2013, 43% of the English teachers who took the exam achieved a B2 level. There was a reduction of 3% in the students who obtained an –A level. The Colombian congress approved Law 1651, which represented a major influence on the Colombian educational system. It modified and added articles to the general law of education. Law 1651 of 2013 gave a more relevant role to the acquisition of a foreign language. The Colombian congress approved Law 1651.
  • 2014

    2014
    The government launched the National Plan of English: Colombia Very Well! 2015-2025 (PNI for its acronym in Spanish)
    The government launched the National Plan of English: Colombia Very Well!
    Bilingual Colombia: affirms that the program aims to achieve by 2018 that 35% of the Colombian eleventh graders from the public sector attain a B2 level, and 8% reach an A1 level.
  • 2015

    2015
    Several English native speakers were welcomed to the Colombian public schools12 (CVNE, 2015)"
    Five months after the beginning of the implementation of the PNI the program was re-structured and it re-emerged with the
    name “Bilingual Colombia” CB"
    When several English native speakers were welcomed to the Colombian public schools
  • 2016

    According to Bonilla Carvajal and Tejada-Sánchez (2016), the changes in the plans have reflected a mismatch between the Colombian reality and the course of action drawn.