Belize

From http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1955.htm

English, the official language, is spoken by virtually all except the refugees who arrived
during the past decade. Spanish is the native tongue of about 50% of the people and is
spoken as a second language by another 20%. The various Mayan groups still speak their
indigenous languages, and an English-Creole dialect similar to the Creole dialects of the
English-speaking Caribbean Islands is spoken by most. The rate of functional literacy is
76%.

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.js
p?
_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED275176&ERICExtSearch_Sear
chType_0=no&accno=ED275176 [and see the .pdf file CENTRAL AMERICA-1985
Assessment in the AMERICAS & CARRIBEAN file]

Crandall, JoAnn; And Others. (Dec 1985). English Language Assessment in Central
America. This document, the final report of a project assessing the general status of
English language training (ELT) in Central America, includes an overview of the process,
general recommendations, and country-specific information and recommendations for
training and policy development. The purpose was to assess the potential effects of the
ELT situation on the Central American Peace Scholarship (CAPS) Program, a technical
training exchange program with the United States. The major recommendations are for
the improvement of in-country and U.S. preparatory training for CAPS program
participants through the use of consultants in program development, immersion
instruction, and independent study; and for the improvement of national ELT programs
through improved materials, teacher training seminars and national ELT policy. Specific
recommendations are also made for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and
Panama, and special reports containing recommendations for establishing a regional
center for ELT are included for Belize and the Regional Office for Central American
Programs. (MSE) ED275176

Role and Status of English

Despite the fact that so few Belizeans speak standard English as a first language, it is the
prescribed instructional medium throughout the Belizean school system. All texts are in
English, and teachers are expected to use Englishusually exclusivelyfrom the earliest
levels. Even in areas of homogenous first language, such as the Spanish-speaking towns
of the north and Kekchi villages in the south, children enter schools where from the first
day English is the medium of instruction. Their understandable language difficulty may
be compounded by having native Creole-speaking teachers, who may be somewhat less
than totally proficient in English themselves. Thus a majority of Belizean children find
themselves in the strange and complex linguistic environment of an unstructured total
immersion language experience from their first day of class. [pp. 99-100]