The languages debate continues. Following earlier discussions on this blog – especially in the light of recent press reports on a podcast I’d made – here is a piece commissioned by the Yorkshire Post. I’ll let it speak for itself.
October 13, 2011
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October 23, 2011 at 5:58 pm
The issues in this article and previous postings are complex. First, the French question. French is the most commonly studied language in this country at the moment, and children are failing at it by the hundred thousand each year. This is not new – failure in French goes back to Chaucer’s Prioress. The solution is not to abandon French, in which we have so much invested, but to teach French more effectively, while continuing to extend the range of languages we teach, notably to Chinese.
French is not as difficult as it seems, provided we identify the adjustments in thinking that are needed, and use the primary years to give children practice in them. I show how in my blog listed below.
In earlier postings, Bishop Nick has said that Spanish is easier, and German more difficult to learn, but easier to pronounce. I agree with him about German, although I know German teachers who have used the same approach I have to French, to good effect. Spanish has a great hidden problem – Spanish people do not take the same shortcuts as the French, but speak faster, cramming more syllables into the same time than English speakers do. This makes Spanish difficult, unless it is carefully unpacked and explained.
But then again, any language is difficult unless it is carefully unpacked and explained. This is the secret of Michel Thomas’s success with adults, and we need to learn from it – not copy it – in our work with children.