UK: Plans to get every young child speaking a foreign language are on track

[Harold Schiffman]

Plans to get every young child speaking a foreign language are on track
By Nick Jackson
Thursday, 27 March 2008


Young children may be receptive to languages, but until last year,
language teaching in primary schools was a matter of luck. The right
head and the right teachers meant that some schools were teaching
French, German and Spanish, but, for most, languages were something to
be left to GCSEs. All that changed last March, when the Dearing Report
recommended that all primary schools should be teaching a modern
foreign language by September 2009. Now, it is policy, and primary
schools are racing to catch up.  With the deadline to lay on a foreign
language at Key Stage 2 just 18 months away, schools have already made
dramatic progress. In 2002, 44 per cent offered language teaching, now
70 per cent do, and the Government has given £35m to help schools
reach the target.

Still, some heads will be left scratching their heads. How can
primaries teach languages without a specialist? Some are turning to
independent consultants for advice and materials. But government
funding has already made cash available through the National Centre
for Languages (Cilt), which co-ordinates the National Advisory Centre
on Early Languages Learning. With guidance and resources online and a
plethora of training opportunities, Cilt is confident that all British
primary schools will soon be up to scratch.
"The 2009 deadline is absolutely realisable," says Carmel O'Hagan,
from Cilt. "There's significant funding going into primary languages
and a huge amount of support."

Already, teachers can find lesson plans in French, Spanish and German
online, and Cilt is developing a comprehensive programme for primary
teachers that will be available later this year. O'Hagan says that
teachers do not need a languages degree. Family connections and even
trips abroad can provide a base for the British Council-funded,
two-week immersion course in France or Germany.  Despite early
concerns, O'Hagan says primary teachers are now more confident. "We're
changing hearts and minds. The enthusiasm from teachers, heads and
secondary language teachers is a massive step forward."

The message from Cilt and the Government is that non-specialists can
teach languages. "There are large numbers of schools where there are
no specialists," says Lorna Harvey, an adviser at Staffordshire County
Council. "We are trying to encourage and support non-specialists in
languages as they are actually specialists in terms of primary
practice." Some local authorities have moved over entirely to
non-specialist teachers, as in Liverpool. Many primary schools are
working with the country's 223 specialist language colleges to develop
materials.

And government-funded partnerships allow primaries outside
specialist-language-college catchment areas to band together to
develop curricula and tools. The Sunderland Partnership, funded by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families, has brought together
seven schools, the independent Sunderland High School, the specialist
language college St Aidan's, and five primaries to develop materials
and, perhaps most importantly, a French pronunciation CD, so that all
teachers can teach languages, not just at Key Stage 2, but in Years
one and two as well.

"We've developed a complete kit," says Janet Holyoak, responsible for
MFL at Newbottle Primary School. "Any teacher within the school can
now use it without external training," Schools, or even parents,
concerned about meeting the 2009 deadline should contact their local
council's language adviser. Councils are approaching the challenge in
different ways, although most, like the Sunderland Partnership and
Cilt, are focusing on primary teachers learning to teach languages
rather than parachuting in peripatetic teachers or experts.

"I want primary school teachers delivering it," says Geoffrey Roberts,
schools adviser (modern languages) at Oxfordshire County Council.
"That's the only way it's going to become embedded in the curriculum."
As Roberts acknowledges, most of these teachers are going to need not
just internet resources, but training. Oxfordshire offers six-week
courses for primary teachers. "The big issue is confidence and the
ability to deliver," says Roberts. "You can't train people through a
website."

Local courses can bring impressive results. Many primary teachers are,
understandably, anxious about languages, seeing them as a speciality
similar to something like music. But with so many resources available,
and with the right preparation primary teachers should have little to
worry about. Instead of seeing languages as another burden on their
time, many welcome another string to their bow. "Many are anxious at
first," says Lorna Harvey at Staffordshire County Council. "But when
they have started they are very positive and enjoy the experience."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/plans-to-get-every-young-child-speaking-a-foreign-language-are-on-track-800898.html

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