Colombian Foreign Language Bilingualism Policies and Plans (by Yuri Asias & León Chaves)

Colonial Period (1549 - 1810)

1549

--Latin is studied and used as a means of instruction. Spanish
sometimes used as a means of instruction but not studied.

The First Language Policies (1811 - 1886)

1811

-- Some policies were created but they were not implemented.
• For instance: they proposed to teach in primary and secondary
schools Spanish, Latin, Greek, French, English, and one
indigenous language.

Mandatory Subjects

1826

Studying English and French became mandatory to graduate from secondary school.

Schools for communities (1833 - 1887)

1833

1833 to 1837 — Moreno de Angel proposed the creation of a system of primary education that consisted of establishing a school for every community of more than 30 families.

Relevance of English (1951 - 1993)

1951

Between this period English language gained more relevance after WWII ended, thus, more hours were assigned to this language inside institutions.

Latin stopped being taught

1970

Latin was gradually being left behind and by the 70's they decided to stop teaching it inside Colombian institutions.

the General Law of Education (Law 115)

1994

This law gave schools the right to teach one foreing language, as a result, Colombian schools decided to teach only English. The reason for this was the emerging dynamics of the world, and the 'power' of English as a Lingua Franca and businesses language.

National Bilingualism Programme ( 2004 - 2019)

2004

The programme was about understanding the different needs colombians had, cosidering the multiculturalism concept.

Program for Stengthening the Developement of Competences in Foreing Languages PFDCLE( 2010 - 2014 )

2010

This program (PFDCLE) was created with the aim to focus on developing the communicative competencies in foreing languages.
-The main idea behind this program was to ensure Colombian work force into the international economy and job market.

Bilingualism Law

2013

At this moment law 1651 was created, which gave more relevance to the acquisition of a foreing language in all levels of education in Colombia: elementary, secondary, high shool, higher education and education to work and human development.

Colombia Very Well (2015 - 2025)

2014

This program was about re-adapting the previous educational English programs in the country so that they were transformed to our current reality. The main idea was to propose improvment strategies.

Colombia Bilingüe

2015

Native speakers came to the country to teach English in public schools.
- Local teachers could not teach 10th and 11th grades only foreing
teachers were qualified to do so.