Language education in school
Monday, March 12th, 2007I read an interesting article by the BBC on proposed changes to the language curriculum (i.e. starting foreign languages in primary school).
Some of the comments noted that after a GCSE in a foreign language most kids can’t even have a conversation. That was certainly true in my case. I spent a couple of pre-GCSE years studying French, and one year pre-GCSE and two GCSE years studying German and I didn’t have anything to show for it (yet I still came out with a C in German). I certainly didn’t have the confidence to use German at all when I had a trip to Berlin right after my GCSEs (but that was possibly due to shyness, not lack of proficiency).
And after one year of Japanese at evening classes (and a little more studying over the Summer holidays) I started the Tandem Learning Scheme (language exchange) and I was able to hold short conversations. Also note that I’m maybe six years older than when I took my GCSEs so my capacity for learning back then was immeasurably larger than it is now.