Compulsory Language Lessons

lancsdave

lancsdave

Peel Monument
Overlooker
Modern foreign language lessons are to be compulsory for the first time in England's primary schools.
Education Secretary Alan Johnson backs the recommendation of a review by Lord Dearing, that all children should learn a language from the age of seven.

Wouldn't it be better if we said it was compulsory to speak English when they start school in the first place. We spend money on teaching them to speak English and now they want to spend money teaching them not to :confused: :confused:
 
Many primary schools have introduced a foreign language anyway, mine have done basic francais from year 4. Altho can see what you mean that many youngsters do struggle with our own language format, that now text speak has ruined.
 
I think it's a great idea to start learning languages at Primary school. The younger children are when they start the easier it is for them to learn - not all the rules and grammar and stuff, just chatty basics, the same way they learn their mother tongue.
 
While in principle, it may seem like a good idea...wouldn't it be better to ensure that pupils are numerate and literate? It seems that many children leave school with only the very basics...and to be honest you have to have a good grasp of English to learn a foreign language...unless of course they are only going to do conversational stuff.
 
I think they're aiming for the basic conversational stuff. I wish I'd learned at an early age. My friend's son in Germany started to learn English when he was a toddler and he's fluent now. I'm hopeless at German. I've forgotten most of what I ever did learn.
 
WillowTheWhisp said:
I think it's a great idea to start learning languages at Primary school. The younger children are when they start the easier it is for them to learn - not all the rules and grammar and stuff, just chatty basics, the same way they learn their mother tongue.
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Absolutely agree Willow .. took the words out of my mouth .. children learn their own language by parroting their parents and if the schools can do this with a foreign language when the brain is young and more open to 'washing' then so be it. Always believed it should be conversation first, grammar and spelling later.

Which language would they chose though ? New suggestions are turning to Mandarin 'cause of the business connections with China; French out now I think, Spanish high on the list as spoken in more countries after English.

Don't think it is a matter of us being useless at foreign languages, just that English reasonably world wide and made us lazy.

What I can't understand is that the pupils in secondary school, who are not moving up to do a G.C.S.E. in a language, would be offered a course focused on more conversational language rather than the Grammar ... yes, please .. wish they had done this when I was at school.
 
My daughter has had French lessons every week an since she was seven. As there was Arabic and Mandrin a possibility I have to agree that English should come first. Why french beats me , why not Spanish, Portugese Russian etc. Yet I also see in this the need for it as the world is expanding an mixing like never before so it would be inevitable.
 
SPUGGIE J said:
My daughter has had French lessons every week an since she was seven. As there was Arabic and Mandrin a possibility I have to agree that English should come first. Why french beats me , why not Spanish, Portugese Russian etc. Yet I also see in this the need for it as the world is expanding an mixing like never before so it would be inevitable.
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You and Katex have explained quite clearly ONE of my reasons why it is a daft idea. Choose the language they should learn bearing in mind that there won't be enough teachers to go round for one language so the cirriculum won't be the same nationally.
 
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lancsdave said:
You and Katex have explained quite clearly ONE of my reasons why it is a daft idea. Choose the language they should learn bearing in mind that there won't be enough teachers to go round for one language so the cirriculum won't be the same nationally.
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So then the govenment needs to recruit more teachers. We do need to learn to stay upwith the rest of the world or even get ahead. There is no reason why kids cant be made to learn another language but it has to be done properly.
 
I think its a good idea providing all the other curriculum needs are met, I'd rather it be French or Spanish though.
 
SPUGGIE J said:
So then the govenment needs to recruit more teachers. We do need to learn to stay upwith the rest of the world or even get ahead. There is no reason why kids cant be made to learn another language but it has to be done properly.
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government and properly in the same statement :eek: :D :D :D
 
lancsdave said:
We spend money on teaching them to speak English and now they want to spend money teaching them not to :confused: :confused:
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We don't know yet lancsdave how these lessons will be implemented and if to the detriment of other subjects ... let's give it a chance.

Throughout my own, daughter's, son's (big gap in age) grandaughter's education have never noticed any neglect whatsover in the teaching of our own language .. English Grammar/Literature abounds. For those children who have not got the natural talent of being a spelling/grammar guru, they will surely pick up verbally another language as they have with the spoken language of our mother country, and can do them no harm in life. For those that are good at these subjects, why should they be penalized for the ones that aren't so good ?

Sorry, cannot agree with your negative and cynical views.
 
I go to Malta, frequently, and the Maltese children all speak English which is their official 2nd language. Some speak it extremely well because they are taught from infancy by their parents, others not so well but they learn it at school from the start so they have a basic knowledge. I've noticed, in recent years, they are beginning to be fluent in German too. It's important in a country that's, largely, dependant on the tourist trade.

Young children soak up information like sponges and primary school age is the right time to start.
 
i would have thought that in our current social and political climate urdu would have been the first choice of politicians


but i do agree that it is easier to learn the younger you start.
 
nothing against it,think its great to have a 2nd language, just question where these teachers of this will come from? from what people tell me teachers are a bit thin on the ground as it is?
 
Actually, when you learn the vocabulary and grammar of another language, it may result in a greater interest in one's own language. If I had a child at home, exposusing them to a foreign language at a young age would be part of the plan.
 
does anyone know what this language will be?
I think 7 is a bit young, some have only just started to read proper at that age, some cant!! it should be about 10+
 
Billcat said:
Actually, when you learn the vocabulary and grammar of another language, it may result in a greater interest in one's own language. QUOTE]

Possibly Billcat, just learning the grammar first is what I question... remember Je suis, Tu as, il est, Nous sommes, Vous etes, ils sont (proberbly incorrect) .. how boring. :rolleyes: Learning the grammar first was the pits .. could never incorporate it into a conversation, and as you get older your mind is not as flexible to a different structure either as per the popular one of 'La plume de ma tant' being, of course, My Aunt's Pen .. think more about it as an adult because we become more conditioned this way, whereas when younger, more flexible.

Know you agree though about being younger.
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