Yorkshire: Speaking out about the language barrier

[Harold Schiffman]

Published Date: 14 December 2007

Yorkshire Richmond: Speaking out about the language barrier


I'M afraid that Children's Secretary Ed Balls was living up to his
name when he announced that primary school children will be encouraged
to learn a foreign language. This policy was first trailed in March.
The Normanton MP is also a leading member of a Government which
perversely decided that the learning of a foreign language should no
longer be compulsory for GCSE subjects.
Don't get me wrong. I support the primary school initiative – one of
my lasting regrets is that I did not pursue French to A-level
standard.

It was also very humbling recently to have interviewed Dutch-born
National Hunt jockey Tjade Collier because his English was so fluent.
Why? Because Dutch youngsters are taught foreign languages at such an
early age that it becomes second nature. Now the young man is refining
his Yorkshire accent, thanks, in no small part, to the plain-speaking
former showjumper, Harvey Smith, whose Bingley stables employ him. Yet
the failure of so many Britons to converse in at least one foreign
language, albeit half-heartedly, remains a national embarrassment.
But, if languages are to return to the school curriculum, they have to
be taught to a high standard so that pupils do not become
uninterested. So it raises one question: where are the specialist
teachers going to come from?

Ministers have to address such questions before they start spinning
their announcements. For Britain will not become a nation of linguists
– a skill that will become even more essential in a global economy –
without teachers who can inspire their pupils.
Such issues need to be considered before Ministers go public with
their policies. It may lead to better law-making in the long-term
rather than the double Dutch that we have come to expect from New
Labour.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists/Tom-Richmond-Speaking-out-about.3593758.jp

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