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Foreign languages should be taught in early primary school

Do you think foreign languages, such as German, French or Spanish should be taught from around the age of 6?

Other countries do this, and that is why teenagers can speak fluent , everyday English (or a different language).

This is why the UK should follow in their footsteps. Languages are increasingly important in many careers, for example business and medical related careers.

There is the option to do a language at GCSE, A-level and a University if you wish, but they are not a must (I have chosen Spanish for GCSE, but my school did not require me to do so).

So, would you like to see this become law and part of the curriculum for very young children?

Reply 1

leoq8

100% should be implemented.

Reply 2

Georgeous_

I want to do german, but i'm year 11 and my school didn't have the option for it. Just spanish or french. I'm doing neither, opted to do engineering instead. I felt like i wouldn't pass a language. In primary school I very briefly did french, but i think more should be done from a younger age in regards to teaching languages. I ended up being better at spanish, i can still speak it, but only basic barebones spanish.

Reply 3

Puppiesmyfav^o^

I speak three languages fluently because I grow up in a bilingual environment and started to learn a third language at 5. I do believe learning an additional language can change the way you think. I am still studying new languages now.

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Reply 4

That'sGreat

We started French in year 1 and I can barely string a sentence together. I think it all depends on whether someone is a language person or not. However, I think it should still b eimplemented in year 1, but not as a full subject to start off with. Along with that, I want to see computer science added as well, coding is, in my view, just like learning a language.

Reply 5

ForgetMe

I'm surprised it has not been implemented here :K:

In my home country, I had English as my foreign language at the age of 9 ( I started school at 8 whereas others at 7 due to illness ) whilst I was still learning my native language and very happy that it's been like that. Schools should start teaching children a variety of foreign languages as early as possible :h:

Reply 6

scblx

I can definitely tell you that it works. This post was written by a German who has been learning English since third grade. I think it is a general fact that in most (developed) countries where the first language isn't English, people are more likely to be able to speak a second language. But this does have to do with the fact that English is just so necessary. I can't just go and talk german to basically the whole world because the whole word speaks german. No. But you can do that with English in lots of places. This might also result in people in those countries being more motivated to learn languages? Anecdotal evidence but I observed that people from countries with a rather rare first language (Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries) speak English better than let's say Spanish or french people. Because they are even more required to learn English.
People usually can learn a foreign language very well when they start at a young age so if more people learning languages is desirable in the uk, I think studying languages in primary school will help. I personally think that learning languages is awesome even if you don't "need" them that much :smile:

(Edit: i just realised I basically disprove my whole point by using such bad grammar in this post, it's late and I'm tired :biggrin:

)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

Maid Marian

Definitely. Though I'm still not sure it would have been much use for me. I'm a hopeless case with languages. Well, with everything really.

Reply 8

KaylaB

I agree with the idea that languages should be taught from a younger age as it means by the time students are at GCSEs they certainly have more of a grasp of the subject and can make a more informed decision about whether they wish to continue it further, and if not they at least already have a basic foundation.

I don't however think it's realistic to make it compulsory do a language at GCSE (or beyond) although in an ideal world it would be an absolutely wonderful idea.

I started learning French late in year 5 and it was compulsory for me to do it at GCSE (doing the EBacc) to which I enjoyed and still to this day love French but couldn't bear to go through with A Levels and end up disliking it due to exam pressure. But I knew plenty of people who only started learning French/another language at the start of secondary school and just couldn't grasp it and didn't get the point or even learned the least amount possible to just scrape a pass. :dontknow:

Reply 9

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by TSLW

At the age of 6 at the latest. It is said there are countries in which it is taught at the age of two (as in Sweden). It is important to begin with learning languages as soon as possible and in a ludic way, so it is easier to go steps further in advanced ages.

In my opinion, it should be compulsory for British education sysem to learn a foreign. The compulsory foreign language itself should be choosen by the students.

Reply 10

Blackstarr

back in poland i remember learning english when i was 7 or 8.

now that is a drastic difference compared to england when i started german when i was 11.

3-4 years difference could be a huge deal braker.

Reply 11

Plagioclase

Absolutely. I am thoroughly of the opinion that taking a modern foreign language should be compulsory all the way through primary and secondary education, as it is in many other European countries.

Reply 12

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Plagioclase

Absolutely. I am thoroughly of the opinion that taking a modern foreign language should be compulsory all the way through primary and secondary education, as it is in many other European countries.

Agree with this. Can't understand it is not compulsory in UK. The fact that English is a worldwide spoken official language is not a reason. There are another countries and more than enough another people in the world who are not capable of speaking English.