The Cunning Linguist

Not many of us have fond school-day memories of those tricky Mandarin lessons, or firm-but-fair Japanese teachers. Most UK school pupils experience modern foreign languages (MFL) as synonymous with French. Timetable constraints undoubtedly play a strong part in this, as does the necessity of standardizing subjects so pupils can move between schools relatively painlessly.

Even the introduction of a second language such as German can present difficulty; during my education I moved from an area where German lessons started in ‘Year 9’ (the year before starting GCSEs or old O-levels) to a school where lessons began in ‘Year 8’ – the year I had already done! I still have vivid memories of our enthusiastic German teacher talking to the class for the best part of an hour in German before he happened to direct a question at one of the handful of new students who shared my predicament. It wasn’t the best start, and set the tone for the rest of the year (which I hated with a passion)!

Given the enthusiasm I have since discovered for languages, I wonder how many of our young minds are driven away from subjects and skills in which they might otherwise excel by the presentation of languages in schools.

Click to read more ...

The BBC reports today that as part of a wide ranging review of school curriculum in the UK, the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA) have proposed that languages available for study  at ages 11-14 should be widened to include those outside the EU - specifically Mandarin, Arabic and Urdu.

The BBC's presentation suggests an imminent and significant shake up of modern languages in secondary education, and emphasizes 'replacement' of european languages within Key Stage 3 (KS3) - which covers ages 11 to 14. However, materials on the QCA and National Curriculum websites suggest pupils have had this choice for some time - providing one of the core EU languages was made available to the pupil by the school.

Click to read more ...